Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust members have been offered the opportunity to share two of Oxfordshire Gardens Trust talks which complete this year’s programme. The first talk is on 24 October from 6.00-7.30 pm on Zoom, and members may book this at OGT members price of £4.00. To book please visit OGT Events on EventCube
Lecture Thursday 24th October – Kiftsgate Court: Three Generations of Women Gardeners
Vanessa Berridge’s book about the history of Kiftsgate and its three generations of women gardeners, won the 2019 Garden Media Guild Book of the Year award. Vanessa studied English and History at the universities of Bristol, East Anglia and London. She was the launch editor of The English Garden magazine and is now an internationally published freelance writer on gardening and garden history. Her books have included The Princess’s Garden: Royal Intrigue and the Untold Story of Kew (2015), Great British Gardeners: From Early Plantsmen to Chelsea Medal Winners (2018) and Borde Hill Garden: A Plant Hunter’s Paradise (2022). Her latest book, Garden Heaven: Inspiration and Escapism for Every Gardener will be published by HarperCollins/National Trust in May 2024. She is county organiser for the National Garden Scheme in Gloucestershire where she lives.
The talk will be recorded and we normally make it available for one week afterwards, for those who book, but are unable to attend on the 24th.
The second talk is on Thursday 21st November 6.00-7.30 pm at members price of £4.00. To book please visit OGT Events on EventCube
Lecture Thursday 21st November – Threats to Historic Landscapes
The historic landscapes we all love are under pressure not just from development but also neglect, vandalism, change of use, misguided interventions, roads, climate change, and even legislation. Whilst that might sound gloomy there are also many ways in which these threats can be mitigated or even avoided. In this talk Maggie Hoffnung takes a broad look at the situation, while highlighting a very important aspect of historic landscapes and the work the GT and County Gardens TrustOGT does to protect them.
Margie Hoffnung completed a 4 year Horticulture Degree at Writtle College, after working at Westonbirt Arboretum. Her sandwich placement was with Rosemary Verey, the well-known plantswoman, author and garden designer, with whom she continued to work for over a decade until Rosemary’s death. She also spent some years at Highgrove as both gardener and garden guide for HRH The Prince of Wales, as well as manning Jekka McVicar’s herb stand at flower shows like Chelsea and Hampton Court for several seasons. She subsequently completed a Masters degree in the Conservation of Historic Gardens & Cultural Landscapes at Bath and since 2013 has worked for the Garden History Society (now the Gardens Trust) and is their Conservation Officer. In this role she liaises closely with County Gardens Trusts all round England and responds to planning applications which might affect listed historic designed landscapes, to make sure as far as possible, that these proposals do not have an adverse effect on those sites or their settings. She is the Chair of the Gloucestershire Gardens & Landscape Trust as well as being a regular speaker to gardening societies on a variety of topics and speaking on conservation issues relating from historic gardens to heritage bodies.
