Its iconic status belongs to the world of gardening rather than football but one of our most famous gardens, Hidcote in Gloucestershire, is turning to the latest in sports turf technology to help keep its grass paths looking immaculate.

Thanks to technology developed to cope with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand’s footballing skills, visitors are now being encouraged to walk on the grass.

Turf designed to cope with free kicks and sliding tackles has been laid by a team of specialists who created the playing surface for Manchester United’s Old Trafford.

A National Trust first

It is the first time we have tried using sports turf on this scale and with 150,000 pairs of feet each year, the grass, more used to the high power action of premier footballers, has a tough test.

Hidcote’s Property Manager Mike Beeston said he wanted visitors to be able to enjoy the gardens as they would their own at home.

‘We want people to walk on the grass, play on the croquet lawn and get up close to the plants but our main grass paths get very muddy whenever it rains and we have to close them regularly. So we hit upon this scheme to try the footballer’s turf.

We have installed new drainage, replaced the clay soil with specially modified soil and then laid turf on one area and used seed on another to see which reacts best.

It is exactly the same system as laid in the goal mouths at Old Trafford and on many other sports pitches. Our visitors tend to shuffle along looking at the garden so it will be interesting to see how the grass holds up under that use, rather than the way footballers would use it.’

The two newly laid areas are now open allowing visitors to get closer to the plants and enjoy their visit over the summer while the grass gets taken through its paces.