Congratulations to Dr. Michael Thompson Phd
The Trustees, Council and members of the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust congratulate Michael on completing his dissertation on ” Humphrey Repton and the Architects” and being awarded a Phd by the University of East Anglia, brilliant and we now wait for its publication.
Michael (Mick) graduated from Middlesex Polytechnic (now Middlesex University) in 1980 with a BA in Economics and Geography. He fell into a career in horticulture with the Parks Departments of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Barnet, where he was a Trainee Parks Officer and Brent as Parks Supervisor. He became Gardens Manager at Ashridge Management College in 1994 and worked there until November 2020. Mick also undertook the role of Archivist at Ashridge. At Ashridge, he was responsible for a team of gardeners maintaining, conserving, and restoring the Grade II* gardens designed by Humphry Repton.
During his time at Ashridge Mick attended the Architectural Association and was awarded a Diploma in Parks and Gardens Conservation in 1996. A few years later he gained an MA in Garden History at Birkbeck. Mick has in the past been involved with a range of groups related to horticulture and garden history including being a Plant Collections co-ordinator for Plant Heritage in Herts and Beds, a member of the Council of the Garden History Society and being involved with the Conservation and Planning group of Hertfordshire Gardens Trust. He was also involved with running a popular Garden History Summer School at Ashridge between 1995 and 2018.
With an interest in garden history, Mick has long been involved with both Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire Gardens Trusts. He became Secretary of BucksGT in 2009 and was recently elected as Vice-Chair. He is very involved in the Bucks BT Gardeners’ Network and the Audience Engagement events having become an expert in putting up the gazebo. Well done Mick we are very proud of you.
Hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne originally, Mick lives in Tring with Christina, now Treasurer of BucksGT, and sons Andrew and Alexander.
