St Dunstan’s Park, Monks Risborough Monks Risborough sits beneath the Whiteleaf Cross and the Icknield Way at the foot of the Chilterns.  The land here has always been predominantly arable with meadows and woodland and, being at the bottom of the escarpment, it is close to the spring line and a small stream runs through...Read More

John Nash and the Dovecote   Over the last year, we have all developed an increasing appreciation of our open spaces ranging from public parks, designed landscapes or rural countryside. They are places where we have enjoyed the beauty of nature, found comfort away from these difficult times and exercised our minds and our bodies....Read More

‘Unforgettable Gardens’ ‘The Elysian Fields’ at Stowe – a personal view If I think of the designed landscape at Stowe, the Elysian Fields come directly to mind. They seem to me to embody the essence of this vast landscape. The huge landscape at Stowe began, not surprisingly, with the long axis which was laid out...Read More

The conservationist and historian Dr Sarah Rutherford who has researched the reconstruction of a 19th-century landscape at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, said: “Using an Ordnance Survey map from 1904, we have been able to research details of how the landscape looked when it was at its peak. We’ve also used RAF aerial photographs from 1946 which...Read More

Michael Portillo  in his 12th series of Greatest Railway Journeys is highlighting the developments in   Britain Between the Wars over 15 episodes. This week starting 26th April 2021 has seen 1/15 Oxford to Abingdon, 2/15 Stoke Mandeville to Beaconsfield  and 3/15 West Ruislip to Windsor on the BBC2 channel. A number of areas have...Read More

In Stephen Switzer’s Practical Husbandman and Planter (1733), he recommends wide paths between beds for ease of access and as we can see from this quote, weeder woman and boys to pick off and destroy snails and slugs every morning! Who does the weeding in your household and that of your family, neighbours and friends?...Read More

2021 marks the 80th Anniversary of the death of Maud Grieve The inspirational herbalist, writer, teacher and gardener ‘Now let me tell you about that wonderful plant’* Maud Grieve was born in London in 1858. She spent her early married life in India, and on their return at the end of the 19th century the...Read More

Margery Fish (1892–1969) Plantswoman and garden writer ‘Margery Fish, virtually single-handedly, was responsible for the renewed popularity of the ‘cottage garden’ style of planting in the second half of the twentieth century’ (Catherine Horwood). Margery Fish (née Townsend) has a very tenuous link with Buckinghamshire: although she probably visited her family in Chalfont St Peter...Read More

Valerie Finnis (1924–2006) Photographer, lecturer and gardener Although Valerie Finnis did not live in Buckinghamshire, the Bucks Garden Trust has much to be indebted to her for. The Finnis Scott Foundation makes grants to horticultural and art history projects and was established in accordance with the will of Lady Montague Douglas Scott (Valerie Finnis) in...Read More

Spring 2021 Christmas 2020 Autumn 2020 July 2020 June 2020 Spring 2020 Autumn 2019 Spring 2019 Autumn 2018 Spring 2018 Books and media Humphry Repton in Buckinghamshire and Beyond   Autumn 2018, 4 Buckinghamshire gardens on film   Christmas 2020, 10-11 General Buckinghamshire in 100 Objects   June 2020, 11 National Heritage List   Spring 2020, 5 Planning reform...Read More