Children recreate garden from 1694 using only paper

Children from Richard Hill Primary School created leaves, fruit and vegetables from paper during their art project with Mandeep Dhadialla

Children at a school in Leicestershire have worked with an artist to recreate a paper replica of a garden from 331 years ago.

A financial document from 1694 was found in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland archive by Dr Susan Kilby, heritage education officer for Charnwood Forest Geopark.

It detailed exactly how much rector, Robert Alfounder, spent on items for his garden in Thurcaston and Dr Kilby then had the idea to create a school project based on the document for children at Richard Hill Primary School.

Artist Mandeep Dhadialla was drafted in to work with children to make leaves, fruit and vegetables from paper, which have been assembled into an imagined recreation of the garden.

The document detailing rector Robert Alfounder's garden receipts and expenses was found in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland archive

The document of "receipts and expenses" for Robert Alfounder's garden was first used to build up a picture of the items he had planted including kidney beans, hazelnuts, figs, apples, gooseberries and cabbages.

Dr Kilby said: "We know, for example, that the garden had a fig tree, and that in 1694, the rector's gardeners grew 60 cabbages on an island.

"This was probably a slightly raised area surrounded by a small ditch, to deter pests like rabbits from eating the rector's crops."

Dhadialla sketched out a representation of the garden based on the document and children from the school in Thurcaston then created dozens of leaves, pieces of fruit and vegetables out of paper which were assembled to create the garden display.

Dhadialla sketched out how Robert Alfounder's garden would look based on his list of expenses from 1694

The display was initially set up at the school before it was moved to All Saints Church in Thurcaston.

Two new trees have also been planted at the school as part of the project.

Dhardialla, an artist and printmaker, said: "It's been wonderful to bring the heritage back to life.

"Creating the garden has been a unique collaborative experience. Tying it together with the planting of the tree is quite special."

Teacher Katie Tack added: "It was really good fun, the children really enjoyed it and it was really good to see it all come to life.

"And for the children to then have a chance to share it with their parents was really lovely."