The Gardens Trust

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The Gardens Trust is a small charity helping to protect and conserve historic parks and gardens in England and Wales.

08/10/2026

🕵️ Volunteers in the East of England have been busy researching parks and gardens and now you can see what they've uncovered...

Over the past year, 30+ volunteers across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have completed training in garden history to research parks and gardens that may be affected by large infrastructure projects.

🏗️ Their research is being added to the Historic Environment Record to give developers the information they need to consider them in future plans. You can read highlights from their research at the following venues throughout October:

📚 Central Library, Cambridge
🌾 Cressing Temple Barns, nr Braintree, Essex
🌳 Rushmere Country Park, Bedfordshire

Find out more about the Green Futures project, supported by Historic England on our website.

🔗 thegardenstrust.org/green-futures

Essex Gardens Trust Norfolk Gardens Trust Hertfordshire Gardens Trust Bedfordshire Gardens Trust

06/10/2026

Congratulations Attri Dei and Olaosebikan Olamiposi Elijah! 🎉

This year we have two joint winners of the Mavis Batey Essay Prize, our annual competition that celebrates vibrant new research, especially by those who have not yet had their work published.

🌿 Olaosebikan Olamiposi Elijah, a student of medicine and surgery at Osun State University in Nigeria, wrote on ‘Cultivating Cure: Women, Medicinal Gardens and the Translation of Yoruba Healing Knowledge.’

On winning, he said ‘I am deeply honoured to receive the 2026 Mavis Batey Essay Prize. Writing this essay gave me the opportunity to explore the relationship between gardens, medicine, history and Yoruba knowledge in a way that is very meaningful to me. I am grateful to the Gardens Trust and the judging panel for recognising my work, and I hope it encourages more young scholars to explore the rich histories within their own communities.’

🌇 Attri Dey, a student of English Literature at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata, India, wrote on ‘The Other Half of the Garden: Design, Experience, and Power After Sunset.’

She said ‘I am delighted and honoured to receive the Mavis Batey Essay Prize. The essay grew from an interest in what happens to the garden when daylight is no longer the organising condition of its experience, and examines nocturnal gardens across different historical and cultural contexts. I hope this research encourages further consideration of darkness, sensory experience and temporality within garden history.’

👏 Congratulations to our worthy winners and head to our website to find out how you can submit next year 👇

🔗 thegardenstrust.org/what-we-do/prize/

29/09/2026

Fancy taking on 26.2 miles for a cause worth fighting for? 🌳

We're looking for runners to join Team Gardens Trust at the London Marathon 2027! We've got a handful of charity places left, and every mile you run helps us protect the UK's historic parks and gardens for future generations.

No running experience? No problem, we'll support you every step of the way, from training tips to fundraising help.

🔗 Visit our website to apply to run the London Marathon for the Gardens Trust 👇
https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/join-team-gt/

25/09/2026

High-quality landscapes aren’t just nice to have, they're essential 🌿

This week we hosted our annual Historic Landscapes Assembly in Milton Keynes, focusing on New Towns and what the past can teach us about building sustainable green spaces for the future.

Some key takeaways:

🏗️ How important it is to build accessible, high-quality environments that are built to last;

🌱 Ongoing maintenance is as critical as initial design if we want to create places people love living in;

🤝 We already have the collective knowledge to create beautiful, sustainable environments and fostering deeper collaboration and partnerships is key to making our ambition of green spaces for all a reality.

A huge thank you to our incredible speakers, our partners FOLAR, the Landscape Foundation and Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust and our sponsor Institute of Historic Building Conservation for making this year’s assembly such a success. See you all in 2027! 👋

22/09/2026

📢 We're calling for trees, plants, gardens and parks to be recognised as essential infrastructure.

Together with HTA News, RHS - Royal Horticultural Society, British Association of Landscape Industries and Landscape Institute we're asking the government to recognise the vital role of parks, gardens, trees and green spaces in helping the UK respond to climate change, support biodiversity, improve health and wellbeing, and create stronger, more resilient places.

Our Chair John Watkins said:

🗣️ “Our nation has understood the value of greenspace for hundreds of years and has consequently created a wealth of parks and gardens, which are both beautiful and much-cherished by the millions of people who use them. Now it is time for this generation to step up and not only care for but grow this legacy, for the benefit of our environment, nature, today’s communities and the generations to come.”

🔗 Read more on our website
https://thegardenstrust.org/news/

21/09/2026

Fantastic to see the Green Futures exhibition on display! It highlights volunteer research on parks and gardens which may be impacted by large infrastructure development in the East of England.

The exhibition will be on display at various locations in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk in the coming months 👀 sign up to the Gardens Trust newsletter for updates: https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/subscribe/

🌳Find out more about Green Futures on our website: https://thegardenstrust.org/green-futures

17/09/2026

A reminder: historic parks and gardens just lost a vital layer of protection. 💔

The Government has removed the Gardens Trust's statutory consultee role; ending our automatic right to be consulted on planning applications affecting registered parks and gardens and their settings, after three decades in that role.

We're not standing still.

Our new Adaptation Fund is helping us build new ways to monitor planning applications and keep fighting for vulnerable landscapes. 🌿

Once these places are lost, they can't be restored. Please consider a donation, big or small.

🔗 Donate today
https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/donate-online/

11/09/2026

Come and see the results of the Gardens Trust and Mill Waters' Sutton Lawn History and Living Memories Project, tomorrow, 11-3 at the free to enter Mill Waters Festival in the park. Congratulations to all the wonderful volunteers who helped to uncover and remember the heritage of this much-loved public park.

03/09/2026

🚨 Last chance to book! 🚨

Want to hear how historic designed landscapes can shape future development, whilst supporting our work protecting and conserving these special places?

👉 Book your place at our annual Historic Designed Landscapes Assembly, this year taking place in Milton Keynes on 23rd and 24th September.

🔗 Book by 8th September here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-historic-landscapes-assembly-2026-tickets-1991306267651?aff=oddtdtcreator

🗣️ Speakers include representatives from the Landscape Institute, the Royal Town Planning Institute and Historic Environment Scotland as well as universities and design practices.

💚 By attending a Gardens Trust event you'll be directly supporting our work protecting and conserving historic parks and gardens, ensuring that they can be enjoyed by all.

27/08/2026

🚨 URGENT: Can you help us protect historic parks and gardens? 🚨

As many of you will have seen, the Government has removed the Gardens Trust's statutory consultee role, ending our automatic right to be consulted on planning applications affecting registered parks and gardens, including their setting. After three decades in this role, it's a seismic change for heritage protection.

Thanks to your advocacy, some protection remains: we'll still be notified of applications within parks and gardens, though not those affecting their setting.

Historic parks and gardens support biodiversity, boost local economies, improve wellbeing, and connect communities with nature and heritage. Once lost, they can't be restored.

That's why we're launching our Adaptation Fund, to help us build new ways of monitoring planning applications, support Local Planning Authorities and County Gardens Trusts, and keep fighting for vulnerable landscapes.

Please donate to help us secure that future. Your donation, big or small, helps us adapt and keep protecting the places that matter. 🌳

👉 Donate today — https://thegardenstrust.org/donate

📸 Festival Gardens, Liverpool by James Rudoni

Address

70 Cowcross Street
London Borough Of Islington
EC1M6EJ

Telephone

+442076082409

Website

http://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/

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