Heritage & Environmental Conservation
How a Heritage Documentary was instrumental in securing grant funding for The Lovell Quinta Arboretum
Nearly £44,000
Grant funding secured via Veolia Environmental Trust
The challenge
Decades of living memory – stories held by the friends, collaborators and family of Sir Bernard Lovell – had never been formally recorded. Without a film, they would simply be lost.
What we did
We created a ten-minute historical documentary capturing the voices of the people closest to the Arboretum’s story, from the Lovell family to the friends who planted it alongside Sir Bernard.
What changed
The film preserved irreplaceable personal histories – and became the centrepiece of a successful grant application, securing nearly £44,000 to restore the lake Sir Bernard’s family built by hand.
About this project
Lovell Quinta Arboretum is a 28-acre living legacy in the heart of Cheshire – created by Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from open grassland in 1948 and now stewarded by the Tatton Garden Society. Home to three Plant Heritage National Collections and over 2,500 trees and shrubs, the Arboretum holds both scientific significance and deep personal history. The Tatton Garden Society came to Majestical needing to do two things: preserve the living memories of the people closest to that history before they were lost, and make a grant application that could secure the funding to restore the lake Sir Bernard’s family built by hand. Together, we created a ten-minute heritage documentary. The film achieved both.
The Challenge
A story worth preserving
Before anything else, the priority was people. The Arboretum carries decades of living memory – stories held by the friends, collaborators and lifelong companions of the Lovell family that had never been formally recorded. Ray and Ann Lowe, close friends of the family for much of their lives. Peter Sullivan, an informal apprentice of Sir Bernard himself, who worked alongside him planting the young saplings that form the avenues and groves standing tall across the Arboretum today. These were not archive sources or historical footnotes – they were real people whose connection to this place and this family had shaped their lives in profound ways. And those stories, if left unrecorded, would simply be lost.
That was the true brief: to capture something irreplaceable before time took it. The grant application to the Veolia Environmental Trust – and the nearly £44,000 it would unlock to restore the lake – came later in the process. But it is a measure of what honest, careful storytelling can do that the same film built to preserve a human legacy also became the most compelling evidence a funder could ask for.
At a glance
Client
Tatton Garden Society / Lovell Quinta Arboretum
Sector
Environmental Conservation
Heritage
Community
Services
Documentary Film Production
Scriptwriting
Post-Production
Duration
2021-2022
Deliverables
1 x ten-minute historical mini-documentary
Team
KN
Sara Walker
Copywriter
KN
Rachel Mellor
DOP / Producer
BC
George Roberts
Editor
Usage
Grant funding application
historical resource
education, awareness
Our Approach
Understanding the people, priorities and purpose
If your charity has a story that deserves to be told - whether for a grant application, a fundraising campaign, or simply because it matters - we'd love to hear about it.
Watch the heritage documentary
Very professional service and attention to detail. Our project was subject to many last minute revisions and Katie and team kept their patience and sense of humour to the end!
Sara Walker, Marketing Manager, Tatton Garden Society
Grant funding secured
National collections protected
Trees and shrubs
The Impact
Restoring the lake, preserving the story, protecting the wildlife
The people who sat in front of our camera gave us something that no brief could have anticipated. Listening to Ray and Ann Lowe speak about the Lovell family, or hearing Peter Sullivan describe the days he spent planting saplings alongside Sir Bernard — you could feel the weight of what was being preserved. These were not performances. They were memories, freely and generously shared, captured on film for the first time.
They were joined by Roger Lovell, Sir Bernard’s son, who spoke with quiet pride about his father’s vision for this place. By David Skidmore, Chairman of the Tatton Garden Society, whose commitment to the Arboretum’s future is as personal as it is professional. And by Rhoderic Taylor, the Collection Curator, who spoke about the trees with the kind of intimacy that only comes from years of devoted care. Together, these voices formed something rare: a portrait of a place that is genuinely, deeply loved.
And then came the grant. The Tatton Garden Society submitted the film as part of their application to the Veolia Environmental Trust and secured nearly £44,000 to restore the lake — the very lake Sir Bernard and his family built with their own hands. Work began in spring 2023. The lake is now open, refurbished, and alive again as a sanctuary for wildlife and a place the local community can enjoy for generations to come.
In September 2023, Katie received a personal invitation to the official lake opening — with a note that the film had been instrumental in making it possible. That felt like the right ending to a project that was never really about the film. It was about the people, and making sure their stories had somewhere to live.
“This is an absolute joy to watch. It has the lightest touch which effortlessly reaches the deepest depth of the subject. The editing is perfect.” Judith Lovell
“This is a terrific film, very well done to all involved.” Bryan Lovell
Can a film really make a difference to a grant application?
In our experience, yes – particularly when the grant requires you to communicate the human significance of a project, not just its practical detail. A well-made film gives assessors something written copy rarely can: the feeling of why a project matters. In this case, the Tatton Garden Society’s documentary helped secure nearly £44,000 from the Veolia Environmental Trust to restore a lake with deep personal and community significance. The film did not just explain the project. It made people care about it.
How do you approach filming people who are emotionally connected to a subject?
With patience, and without agenda. When we worked with the friends and family of Sir Bernard Lovell, we knew these were precious, personal memories – not interview subjects to be managed. We spent time listening before filming, created a calm environment on the day, and let people speak in their own way and at their own pace. The result is always richer than anything a scripted approach could produce. Authenticity cannot be manufactured – it can only be created by making people feel genuinely safe and valued.
How long does a heritage or impact documentary take to produce?
This project ran across several months, from initial conversations through to the finished film. The timeline for any documentary depends on the complexity of the story, the number of contributors involved, and how much the brief evolves along the way. We build flexibility into our process because stories rarely arrive fully formed – and the most honest films are usually the ones that were allowed to find their shape. For a project like this, allow at least eight to twelve weeks from brief to delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does your charity have a story the world needs to hear?
Whether you’re preparing a grant application, marking a milestone, or simply trying to capture something that matters before time moves on – we’d love to find out more about your project and the people at the heart of it.
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