Repairs begin at Hawkstone Park Follies

Friday 22nd July 2011, 3:11PM BST.

The Swiss Bridge at Hawkstone Park Follies

A major operation to fit a new footbridge has begun at a Shropshire beauty spot. It was all hands on deck at near Wem, yesterday when contractors moved in to set about replacing the Swiss Bridge.

It spans a ravine known a The Cleft but needs replacing because it began to rot.

Staff at the follies, which re-opened in 1993, said the project could take up to two weeks because of difficulties transporting large timbers to the clifftops.

Mary White, a member of staff at the follies, said: “Work has started to replace the Swiss Bridge because we had a few problems with the old one.

“It has been closed for the last couple of months after it started rotting at one end where water was collecting.

“So it was decided that we needed to replace it.”

The bridge has been in place for about nine years.

Yesterday’s operation saw a painstaking operation to transport the timber on dirt tracks and no paved roads.

Graham Reeves, from timber merchants GS & PA Reeves, near Wem, said: “We had great fun getting the beam up to the top of the park.

“It took about an hour and we used a big tele-handler, which is a type of four-wheel drive tractor with a big arm on it.”

Staff said the new bridge is expected to open once the work is completed, but no date has been fixed.

The follies are set in a landscape of cliffs, crags, caves, deep woods and monuments built more than 200 years ago.

View more: Hawkstone Park news.