John Penrose, Minister for Tourism and Heritage, has attended the unveiling of the restored Chiswick House Gardens in London as his first ministerial visit to a heritage site.

He said: "This is an oasis of tranquility right in the heart of bustling London. This partnership project has secured the future of this beautiful landscape, which will bring hours of pleasure to tourists and local residents alike." English Heritage (EH), as manager of the house, and the London Borough of Hounslow (LBH), as owner of the gardens, established The Chiswick House and Gardens Trust in 2005 as an independent charity to move forward a rescue plan for the gardens and secure its future for the 21 century.

The garden restoration, managed by EH, and supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £7.9m, has recovered the original vistas and design and also repaired and restored the statuary and garden buildings. Highlights include the planting of more than 1,600 trees, including ones propagated from the original 18th century cedars of Lebanon; the opening up of historic views from the Classic Bridge, the complete restoration of the 19th century conservatory housing a rare and internationally important collection of camellias; the planting of native trees and shrubs in the Northern Wilderness, and the restoration of the Walled Gardens, which will be open to the public on special days.

To complement the restoration, award-winning architects Caruso St John have designed a new café within the grounds, on a site close to Chiswick House on the east side. The new café provides indoor seating for 80 people and external seating for over 100, and forms the social hub for the park, with a newly created children's playground alongside. The gardens, spread over 65 acres, are known as the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement and have inspired countless designed landscapes from Blenheim Palace in Oxford, to Central Park in New York. They were originally created by Lord Burlington and William Kent who worked on them throughout the 1720's and 1730's as a setting for Lord Burlington's Chiswick House, the first and one of the finest examples of neo-Palladian design in England.

In addition to the HLF grant, the restoration project received funding from EH, the LBH, The Wolfson Foundation, The Garfield Weston Foundation and The Monument Trust, plus many other individuals and organisations.