A NATIONAL Lottery grant of £81,022 has been awarded to convert the pleasure grounds of a long-lost Victorian mansion into a haven for visitors and wildlife.

At the turn of the previous century, The Lawn stood as an impressive, nine-bedroomed country house on the border of Stroud and Cainscross but was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Cainscross roundabout.

Its two hectares of grounds stretched to the Stroudwater Canal and included a boating-lake, boathouse, terraced walks, a flowing brook, walled garden, stabling, fishponds, arboretum and areas for livestock but for more than four decades it has fallen into disrepair.

Amid fears that it would soon be lost forever, the Stroud Community Land Trust secured a long-term lease on the site four years ago and since then volunteers have been drawing up plans to restore it to its former glory.

Now the SCLT project has become the only one in Gloucestershire to win cash from the Big Lottery Fund’s £57.5 million Community Spaces Grants Programme and the site will be transformed over the next 16 months.

The restoration of the old orchards, garden wall, fishponds and pathways will be completed in partnership with volunteers from Stroud Valleys Project and other community groups.

The funding will also allow vital improvements to the lake’s drainage system and public access, the planting of specimen trees and the creation of new wildlife habitats.

"This site is a rare natural gem," said Andy Read, project manager for the Land Trust and Stroud mayor.

"It is one of only two public green spaces serving more than 6,000 people in Cainscross.

"Our survey of surrounding households showed massive support for plans to restore it to its former glory with one resident describing it as ‘an oasis in an urban jungle’."