Holly Hill Rediscovered
- Project overview
- How to get involved
- About the National Lottery Heritage Fund
- About the project
- Latest updates
Project overview
Fareham Borough Council has received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund 
for the Holly Hill Rediscovered project. Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK's heritage. Holly Hill Rediscovered is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, the project aims to improve the functionality, sustainability and aesthetic appearance of the lakes and ponds within Holly Hill Woodland Park.
How to get involved
To help inform this project, insights are sought from local people and groups to understand how the park is experienced. Your ideas will help shape restoration plans and future activities, ensuring the park remains a place to enjoy, connect with nature, and celebrate its rich ecologies and histories. Take part in the survey here or click the button below.
Check back here and on social media for latest updates on the project.
About the National Lottery Heritage Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK's heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players, the Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities to heritage. The vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future, from historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. The Heritage Fund believes in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
About the project
Holly Hill Woodland Park sits within a shallow valley leading down to the River Hamble. The 35-hectare site is made up of Victorian landscaped garden and parkland, set around a series of interconnecting ponds, lakes and water features made of Pulhamite stone, which are in need of repair.
The project will enable the following:
- Restoration of the lakes system with desilting, future silt management and creation of settlement ponds, and reinstatement of the Sunken Garden
- Repair of lakes edges and the Pulhamite structures
- Repair and upgrading of the paths network in the designed landscape
- Woodland Managements plans
- Development of plans for biodiversity monitoring, and enhancement of the site's ecology, habitat variety and resilience, in partnership with Hampshire ecology and other local partners
- Development of an activity plan that considers the full heritage of the Parkland, and looks holistically at well-being, learning, volunteering and apprenticeships opportunities.
- Development of inclusive visitor offer, which considers access for disabled people, and the needs of new Fareham communities
- Development of interpretation appropriate for a range of audiences and exploring the full heritage of the Parkland.
Find out more about Holly Hill Woodland Park here.
Latest updates
11 July 2025
A consultation was launched inviting views on the Holly Hill Rediscovered project, which aims to improve the functionality, sustainability and aesthetic appearance of the lakes and ponds within Holly Hill Woodland Park.
22 May 2025
Following a successful procurement exercise, Chartered Landscape Architect, Arkwood , was appointed to lead on their plans for redeveloping Holly Hill Woodland Park. Possessed of considerable experience in working on projects of this nature, they will now lead the next step, which is to bring as many views as possible into the design of the project through a series of in-person and online workshops, events and surveys.
12 March 2025
Development funding of £111,000 was awarded by the Heritage Fund to help the Council progress their plans to apply for a further National Lottery grant towards the full project costs. The Council is also contributing £60,000 in match funding for this stage of the project, having last year set aside a contribution of £1.056 million to support the full £2.046 million restoration project.