Gawthorpe Hall: Dry weather reveals 'ghost garden'

Image source, Lancashire County Council

Image caption, The outline appears most summers but is "quite spectacular" this year, a manager said

A "ghost garden" has reappeared at a country house in Lancashire thanks to the current heatwave.

The drought has seen the outline of the Victorian formal garden at Gawthorpe Hall, a National Trust attraction near Burnley, re-emerge on its front lawn.

Museum manager Rachel Pollitt said that while it appeared most summers, this year it was "quite spectacular".

Built in the Elizabethan era, the hall was remodelled in the 1850s by noted architect Sir Charles Barry.

Image source, Lancashire County Council

Image caption, It's not known when the Victorian garden was covered up

Sir Charles also designed the Houses of Parliament and Highclere Castle, the location used as the family home in the ITV series Downton Abbey.

Ms Pollitt said the results of the dry weather were "amazing" and had shown up "other things... on the sides that we haven't seen before, possibly from previous gardens".