Overview

This website is intended as an overview of the proposals for Horkesley Park. More detailed information is available in various supporting documents, some of which are available from this site as downloads (please refer to More Info).

The Horkesley Park site is 47.41 hectares (117 acres). The plans will transform the redundant tomato glasshouse nursery site and adjoining land into a visitor centre, art gallery, country park, Suffolk Punch breeding centre and much, much more. 

Horkesley Park will have something for everyone and promises to be a great day out opening up this area of the countryside to all. 

The setting will be a magnificent new Country Park extending to 41 hectares (101 acres).  Horkesley Park’s new buildings will be confined to one corner of the site and involve the redevelopment of an extensive area of redundant tomato glasshouses and industrial buildings, with the new buildings having under half the footprint of the existing.

Exhibitions and features within Horkesley Park will focus on rural heritage and conservation and include Farming through the Ages Exhibition, The Life and Times of John Constable Experience and Restoration Workshops. Contemporary Agriculture and Food Production from “field to fork” will feature in The Food Experience, with conservation and renewable energy initiatives also to the fore. Facets of country life from the time of John Constable to the countryside of today will link the past to the present.

The site embraces a classical mansion known as “The Chantry” which will become a new Fine Art Gallery devoted to the works of John Constable and other East Anglian artists past and present. Horkesley Park will also incorporate a purpose-built Suffolk Punch Breeding Centre which will contribute to safeguarding the future of this endangered breed.

Across a wide spectrum of rural themes and issues, Horkesley Park will instruct and entertain through the exploration of the forces - past and present - which have shaped this part of East Anglia and which inspire all who live in or visit the area. 

To find out more about the key elements of Horkesley Park have a look at the Content section.