WITH restoration of Marlborough's 17th century Merchant's House well under way, plans have been revealed for a period garden behind the High Street house.

Landscape gardener and garden historian Jeffrey Galvin-Wright has come out of retirement to head the project.

Members of the Merchant's House Trust and Mr Galvin-Wright, who moved to Marlborough four years ago, have two problems to overcome.

The garden is less than half the size it would have been in the second half of the 17th century when wealthy silk merchant Thomas Bayly had the house rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1653.

Currently it is a bare patch of sloping ground with no clue of how it might have looked 350 years ago when Thomas and Katherine Bayly's ten children would have played there.

Mr Galvin-Wright said he doubted there was any horticultural archaeology surviving to give even an indication of how the garden originally looked.

The garden behind the house on the north side of the High Street originally extended as far as back lane and comprised what is referred to as a burger plot.

At some stage the top section of the garden, certainly a half if not two-thirds of it, fell into other ownership.

Using his own knowledge of historic gardens, with advice from the internationally acclaimed garden historian and author Sir Roy Strong, Mr Galvin-Wright has planned the sort of garden the Bayly family would have enjoyed.

His plans were unveiled to members of the Merchant's House trust and invited guests last Thursday.

The scheme shows the garden divided in half, with a formal garden and herb harden on the lower section, with a small orchard of fruit trees that would have been grown in the 17th century on the upper half.

His scheme will be on show when the gardens are part of the Marlborough Open gardens on Sunday June 26.

Inside the house work is proceeding on the restoration of the rooms in the style the Bayly family would have enjoyed and with furniture like that recorded in the family's own inventory.