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July 2020 Newsletter

Garden History, the Origin of Plants & more

New courses, plus talks by David Marsh & Michael Holland

Online courses

We are delighted to announce that our first online course, A Brief Introduction to Garden History, is now open for booking. The course consists of eight online lectures on Thursday mornings from 8 August. Lecturers Jill Francis and Advolly Richmond will guide us through the history of gardens from the mid-15th to the 20th century. Full details and booking here

This will be followed by a new 12-week online course on the Evolution and Origins of Plants by Dr Mark Spencer, which starts on Wednesday 7 September. If you've ever wondered 'where did the plants in my garden come from?' or 'why do they look this way?', this is the course for you! Details here


Lectures

In August we welcome Michael Holland FLS as our first guest lecturer on our weekly 'Tuesday at 10' lecture series. He will be telling the stories of some of our best-loved fruit, from apples and pears and the citrus family, to tomatoes and chillies and the gourd family. Details and booking here

There is still time to catch the last two of David Marsh's lectures, about elephants in the garden, and the creation of his own garden in France. These lectures are free but you do need to book your place. We would be most grateful for donations towards our work: Donate online here 
Online events

Gardeners reflect on the Covid-19 experience  

As Covid-19 hit, historic parks and gardens found themselves forced to shut their gates just at the start of the Spring season. Many gardeners were furloughed as their employers struggled to make ends meet without visitor income, while others were still at work but in rather unusual circumstances. Now that sites are carefully starting to open once more, they face a whole new set of challenges.
We asked Head Gardeners to share their experiences - from Luke Bartle at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire welcoming his first child while furloughed, to John Hawley at Belsay Hall in Northumberland who had to trouble-shoot a major NLHF replanting project with virtually no staff during lockdown. A volunteer's perspective is given by Enid Vallery from the Swiss Garden in Bedfordshire (whose gardening team is pictured above). Read their stories 

Member news

Members will find full details about this year's AGM in the Notice and Annual Report coming to you with the summer issue of GT News and Garden History, which should be on your doorstep any day now. 
This month we welcome our new social media volunteer Laura, who is looking after our account on Instagram. Do follow us there, or on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date with GT conservation news and activities.
Not a member? Please consider joining or donating to support our work.

Campaign

The Gardens Trust is mentioned in an article in Landscape about the C20 Society's new book 100 20th-Century Gardens and Landscapes. The book includes contributions from GT experts, and supports the campaign for more statutory protection for C20th gardens and landscapes. Buy the book 

Research

The results of Compiling the Record, the joint Historic England and Gardens Trust project to identify significant mid-C20th gardens and landscapes, are due to be announced at the end of August. Sarah Charlesworth talks about the project in the second half of this Historic England webinar on post-war listing: Watch the webinar

Conserve

Historic seaside gardens have been getting some much-needed TLC. The Venetian Waterways at Great Yarmouth (right) have had a terrific restoration thanks to a £1.75m Heritage Lottery grant. Meanwhile Bournemouth can be proud of the restoration of the Coastal Garden at Westbourne by a community project.

HLP launches free webinar training

Between September and March the GT's Historic Landscape Project will be running a series of free webinars aimed at County Garden Trust volunteers. They will be suitable for anyone interested in researching and conserving historic parks and gardens. The webinars will cover all aspects of planning - understanding threats, designation, setting and significance, writing a planning letter, legislation and policy - as well as how to build volunteer capacity and make sure your research is available to all. Check the events page for further details or join the HLP mailing list

Other news and events

The Garden Museum in London has now reopened and its exhibition on Derek Jarman's garden extended to 20 September. Closure during lockdown meant they had no income,  so director Christopher Woodward is doing a sponsored swim from Newlyn to Tresco to help make up the £27K deficit - details of both are on their website

Symposium on fruit and veg gardens

A free symposium on the Conservation of historic fruit and vegetable gardens will take place in the Chateau de Chambord on 15 October 2020, reflecting revived interest in them. Email Lucy Pitman for details.

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