FORTHCOMING EVENTS LIST
See The Gardens Trust website for further information and booking https://thegardenstrust.org/events/
Wednesday, 7 June 2023, 6-7pm. London Talk: Neighbours of the more famous Lord Burlington: The walled gardens of Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716) and Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (1674-1743) at Chiswick. A talk by Sally Jeffery at The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
Tuesday 13 June 2023, 10.15am-4pm Chiswick Visit: The Early Gardens in Chiswick of Sir Stephen Fox, Lord Wilmington and their neighbour Lord Burlington. Chiswick House Gardens, Burlington Lane, Chiswick, London W4 2RP with Sally Jeffery, Ruth Todd and Jeremy Garnett
Tuesday 4 July 2023, 2-4.30pm. Chevening Visit: Summer visit to the gardens of Chevening House, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 6HG, residence of the Foreign Secretary
Saturday 8 July 2023, 2-3.30pm London Walk. The Nineteenth Century Gardening Press and George Glenny: a leisurely stroll around the Strand with Francesca Murray
Saturday 5 August 2023, 10-12am. Bristol Visit: Guided visit with Clare Hickman to the old Homeopathic Hospital gardens, Bristol
22-24 September 2023 Weekend visit to North Wales
THE GARDENS TRUST – FURTHER DETAILS OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS.
Wednesday 7 June 2023, 6-7pm.
Neighbours of the more famous Lord Burlington: The walled gardens of Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716) and Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (1674-1743) at Chiswick. A talk by Sally Jeffery at The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
The gardens of the Earl of Burlington are among the most famous in the country but what do we know of the gardens which lay next door, and which were later acquired, adapted and incorporated into the present gardens?
They were in the form of a series of walled enclosures, some of which survive. They were used for entertainment and pleasure but were also productive. Sir Stephen and Lady Fox had a very large conservatory where they kept bay trees and tuberoses and citrus plants in the winter. There was a terrace and a formal garden with a ‘grove walk’ and wilderness beyond and a section with angled walls for growing fruit. Lord Wilmington was also enthusiastic about fruit and built up an enormous collection of over 400 varieties of all kinds of fruit trees. He was also a knowledgeable collector of exotic plants and kept a separate house especially for his pineapples, and another for plants needing protection He and his gardener, Lewis Kennedy, recorded these collections in several detailed lists. Much new information has recently come to light on their history and will be the subject of this talk and of the following visit.
Tuesday 13 June 2023, 10.15am-4pm
The Early Gardens in Chiswick of Sir Stephen Fox, Lord Wilmington and their neighbour Lord Burlington. Chiswick House Gardens, Burlington Lane, Chiswick, London W4 2RP
All-day visit led by Sally Jeffery, Ruth Todd and Jeremy Garnett, with the Head Gardener, Rosie Fyles. In the morning, the walk will focus on the history of the relatively less well-known eastern part of the present gardens which includes the Italian Garden, the conservatory and the Kitchen Gardens. This was the area occupied from the 1680s by the house and walled gardens of Sir Stephen Fox, and later by Spencer Compton, Lord Wilmington. We will have special access to the surviving walled areas area where important collections of fruit trees and exotic plants were grown. The visit will continue with a tour of Lord Burlington’s gardens in the afternoon.
Tuesday 4 July 2023, 2-4.30pm.
Summer visit to the gardens of Chevening House, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 6HG, residence of the Foreign Secretary
This event is organised by Claire de Carle, chair and trustee of Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust. It was planned by her just prior to the pandemic in 2020 and had to be cancelled. Claire is delighted to be able to offer it again now to Gardens Trust members only.
The garden tour will last two hours. It will be conducted by one of Chevening’s experienced Garden Guides, Marian Boswall, and will conclude with an afternoon tea with sandwiches and cake from 4-4.30pm.
Courtesy of the Trustees, this is a rare opportunity to visit the gardens of Chevening House. Today the occupancy of the house is in the gift of the Prime Minister and the current resident is the Foreign Secretary. The estate was owned by the Stanhope Family for 250 years but when the 7th Earl died in 1967 with no heir, the Chevening Estate Trust was formed.
The 280 hectares park at Chevening is situated in the area below the North Downs scarp on the junction of the Pilgrims’ Way and the coast road to London. Much of the park is wooded and the pleasure grounds (16 hectares) have features of an earlier design combined with twentieth century elements. The present house was reputedly built to designs by Inigo Jones in about 1620 on the site of an earlier building. The house was extended and the gardens were re-modelled after 1718. The design with a canal and extensive parterres is shown in an engraving by Johannes Kip. Probably Chevening’s best-known resident was Lady Hester Stanhope (1776 –1839), adventurer, antiquarian, and one of the most famous women travellers of her age. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope, who succeeded in 1816, was a keen gardener and forester and spent thirty-seven years planting at Chevening, creating the basic layout of the present gardens and park.
Saturday 8 July 2023, 2-3.30pm
The Nineteenth Century Gardening Press and George Glenny: a leisurely stroll around the Strand
Francesca Murray will lead a walk based on her PhD research through the streets around the Strand, London, where she will tell the story of the gardening press which emerged as a powerhouse of horticultural knowledge exchange and contributed to the professionalisation of the nineteenth-century gardening trade. Starting in the newly pedestrianised area beside the historic St Mary Le Strand Church, we will learn about the Gardener’s Gazette, the first weekly gardening newspaper launched in 1837 by the champion of the florists, George Glenny, its irascible editor. Fearlessly taking on the Horticultural Society and John Lindley, editor of the rival Gardener’s Chronicle, he was determined to advance standards of floriculture and improve the lives of working gardeners whilst of course, increasing his circulation figures.
Saturday 5 August 2023, 10-12am. Guided visit with Clare Hickman to the old Homeopathic Hospital gardens, Bristol
Now known as Hampton House, the purpose built Homeopathic Hospital in Clifton, Bristol, was opened on the 20th of May 1925. The gardens were an integral part of its therapeutic design. Dr Clare Hickman, an expert in the history of hospital gardens, will talk about the particular history of the Homeopathic Hospital as well as share oral histories of other of ‘open-air’ hospital treatments from other locations. This will encourage a consideration of the interlinking of spaces, both internal and external, and the importance of nature as part of the therapeutic experience.
22-24 September 2023. Weekend visit to North Wales
An early autumn weekend on the North Coast of Wales, based at the Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno, with accommodation at the Imperial Hotel on the promenade. The schedule includes two full days of garden visting, including a trip to the privately owned Plas Cadnant.
