September brings the restart of our online talks programme after the summer break. You can join us on Tuesday mornings from 12 September for a 7-part series on the wonders of the UK’s World Heritage landscapes. We’ll kick off with an introduction to World Heritage values and challenges, followed by a focus on the villas, gardens and designed landscapes of the Lake District on 19 September and then Joseph Paxton’s iconic Birkenhead Park on 26 September.
On Wednesday evenings you’ll be able to learn about head gardeners at historic sites, starting with a history of the role as told by award-winning author Ben Dark on 13 September. We’ll then hear from the first of a number of head gardeners explaining the joys and challenges of their work – Graham Dillamore at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace (20 September) and Katy Merrington, from The Hepworth Garden Wakefield (27 September).
Tickets for each talk are just £5, with a discount if you sign up for the whole series. Gardens Trust members receive an additional 10% off. All talks are recorded and available to ticket-holders for a week.
Live events in October
We are hosting two special live events in London next month:
Our annual Historic Landscape Assembly this year looks at the theme of designation. Join us on 12 October to hear a panel of expert speakers review the impact of the Register of Historic Parks & Gardens over the past 40 years and discuss its place in heritage conservation for the future. (Online tickets are also available.)
Fiona Davison, head of libraries at the Royal Horticultural Society, will be speaking about her new book An Almost Impossible Thing, which follows six women gardeners in the years before the First World War, and examines their lives in the context of suffragism, collectivism and Empire. This will be the evening of Friday 13 October – details and tickets to follow shortly on Eventbrite.
