TATTON Park has been awarded £515,000 to restore a greenhouse so that staff can grow fruits enjoyed by its ancestors.

The Heritage Lottery Fund grant - announced last week - will mean gardeners can rebuild the vinery and pinery and finally complete the restoration of the walled gardens that began five years ago.

On Thursday Tatton's general manager Brendan Flanagan said it would be wonderful to see work begin in late spring or early summer.

"I am already looking forward to tasting the first pineapple," he said.

The pinery, which had once been a part of Tatton since the late 1770s, is due to open to visitors next April.

Its remains had been discovered as staff restored the walled orchard.

It had been demolished in 1959 due to its poor state and little was visible. However, using the original drawings of Samuel Wyatt, archaeological and photographic evidence from Tatton Park and evidence collected on contemporary vine houses and pineries, staff created a blueprint for its reconstruction.

Last week Tony Jones, lottery fund regional manager, praised Tatton's bid. "The reinstatement of the vinery/pinery will also allow people to learn traditional gardening skills which are at risk of being lost," he said.

The fruit was also a real delicacy among the rich and those privileged enough to grow them would compete with neighbouring estates to see who could grow the best.

In 1831 Tatton's pinery was recognised in the Gardener's magazine as growing 'one of the best crops of grapes over pine outside London'. But the gardens, now visited by 120,000 people every year, slid into disrepair when Tatton's gardeners were called up to fight in the First World War.

Over the forthcoming months four sunken melon pits and an apricot house will be created.

The pits will be surrounded by a low wall and covered with a roof to keep the fruit warm and dry.

And a modern workshop will be built on the estate to store the garden machinery.

ssmith@guardiangrp.co.uk