Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust Roadshow
We love attending the Rare Plant Fair event at Bledlow as the Carrington family and staff always make us feel so welcome. Thank you
This year we were again at the entrance with our distinctive gazebo. We made sure that everyone coming out of the car park on their way to the fair was met by one of our volunteers with the new events and information leaflet. What did they say?
1. Nobody asked us “are you the National Trust?”
2. Many of the attendees had heard about the statuory role of the GT being threatened and wanted to know what action was taking place.
3. We knew at least 50+ people attending as they were Bucks GT members, members of local horticulture societies, neighbours, they had seen us at other events.
4. Membership – at least 5 prospective new members and two had signed up before the end of the day.
2025 the “Road Show” is now in its third year with the emphasis of the exhibition on the importance of the statutory role of the Trust in the English planning system. This means that local authorities have to consult us on any planning applications that affects gardens and landscapes listed on Historic England’s register of special historic interest.
On the Garden History table we had a selection of vegetables and fruit to be identified and the place of their origin, this replaces the Lucky Dip. For young people and adults too, we had “hands on“ experience lead by Sheila Meekums, our Forest School expert, including Dragonflies Activities emphasising the importance of these very beautiful insects to the eco system and historic gardens. There was also new information leaflets of the Trusts work and cards with the Q code on it.
This year we have tried to attend events over a wider area of the county. Our final two events are on Saturday 13th September at Stowe New Inn (in the courtyard) 10-4 and on Saturday 4th October at the Buckinghamshire Local History Fair who are organizing a conference “Fire, Fire, Fire” at Buckingham University – all day. Without our volunteers who undertake 2–3-hour shifts for these events they would not happen – a huge thank you. We are always looking for new members and new volunteers. Do check out the website for more details www.bucksgardenstrust.org.uk . If you would like us to attend a local event with the Garden History Road Show in 2026, please do contact us at enquiries@bucksgardenstrust.org.uk.
