Hidden grotto reveals Georgian 'magical space'

A crystal grotto hidden underground at a country park came into being because of the energy and drive of the aristocrat who created it, the director of the estate has said.

The cave at Painshill Park, near Cobham, is part of a Grade I listed garden designed by Charles Hamilton, who spent 40 years developing the grounds in the 18th Century.

Visitors entering the grotto pass through a narrow, cave-like passage before stepping into a vaulted chamber where thousands of crystals line the walls and ceiling, reflecting light from the lake outside.

Gary Topp, director of the Surrey estate, said the space was man-made, but added: "It's made to feel very natural."

He said it was made up of "thousands and thousands of crystals and all of them hand-applied, so it's entirely artificial", explaining how it created "magic", but achieved the effect "by design".

Hamilton worked with skilled craftsmen over time to create the grotto, using materials including local tufa stone to build the "theatrical" space.

Today, volunteers play a key role in maintaining the grotto, cleaning surfaces and restoring areas where crystals have fallen away over time.

Repairs involve matching replacement crystals, before they are fixed in place - using methods similar to those originally used in the 18th Century.

"It's not surprising some of these are beginning to fall out, so it's trying to find the right shape crystals to fill these tiny gaps, using as near as we can the original procedures that would have been used when they were put up first," one volunteer said.

In his mind Hamilton was "an artist", Topp said.

Showing the grotto to Secret Surrey, he said: "He's an artist in the sense that he was somebody with an extraordinary vision.

"He was determined over the course of his life to create this extraordinary thing called Painshill, so that takes a certain kind of creative energy, determination, almost a putting-aside the everyday challenges of finance, to say I'm going to make this whatever.

"I think that makes him deeply complex, deeply driven - and frankly a genius."

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