THE start of major building works to revamp the National Trust Devil’s Punch Bowl cafe coincided with a busy two weekends of family fir felling fun.

Fortunately, the £775,000 improvements scheme started with the new toilet block, and the cafe was open for visitors in need of refreshment after cutting down their own Christmas trees, with the added bonus of luxury porta-loos on site.

Hundreds of people took up the invite to fell a young fir tree in return for a donation to the National Trust and head ranger Matt Cusack, who supervised operations on the first two weekends in December, estimated the event would raise a record sum of more than £5,000.

Matt said: “This is an invasive species and we hire contractors to clear the heathland and take them away. The money raised will pay for more clearance work.”

The cafe refurbishment will increase seating inside from 50 to 75 and enlarge the terrace outside from 50 to 100 covers.

More toilets will be added, and also a new building to house both the trust’s membership office and a “grab and go” food and drink kiosk.

The cafe extension will feature brick-clad columns with sliding glass doors between and a sweet chestnut shingled roof, sourced from surrounding woodland.

Stephanie Fudge, general manager for Surrey Hills, said: “The opening of the tunnel has been nothing short of miraculous for the wildlife of Hindhead Commons and the Devil’s Punch Bowl.

“Just six years after this massive civil engineering project changed the landscape forever, the area was granted favourable status by Natural England.

“Since the tunnel opened in July 2011, we’ve seen more people enjoying the commons and Punch Bowl but this has increased demand for our visitor facilities.

“So we were delighted to be granted planning consent from Waverley Borough Council to make improvements to our café, public toilets and to build a purpose-built visitor information and catering kiosk.

“Construction work started at the end of November, and all being well, it’s anticipated that sign-off will happen just before Easter 2018.

“Our contractors, Roberts Building Services, are on site daily and have made good inroads already, with the first bricks being laid for the public toilet extension at the rear of the café.

“There will inevitably be some closure of the café while the works are completed but we will provide on-site catering concessions while these closures are in place.

“The public toilets will be replaced with luxury porta-loos on site.”

The new plans also add 45 more parking spaces to the existing 180 in a reconfigured layout, which also provides 12 disabled spaces close to the cafe entrance.

The car parking area has been designed around the existing trees as much as possible and new ones will be planted. It will be sited further away from the cafe and surfaced with crushed Fittleworth stone.

The improvements will come during the scheme’s second phase in 2019.

•See www.nationaltrust.org.uk and search for ‘Devil’s Punch Bowl’