Historic designed landscapes need everyone’s support to survive. A vital part of the Gardens Trust’s mission is to share the beauty, significance and vulnerability of these special places, to ensure they survive for us all to enjoy.
Our community engagement work gives us the opportunity to share this message with volunteers, community groups, organisations and members of the public across the UK, and encourage them to play a role in helping to protect their local landscapes.
Sutton Lawn Landscapes & Living Memories Project
We helped support local people to uncover the story of Sutton Lawn, not just as a public park, but as the home, textile mill and designed landscape of the Unwin family and other mill owners, from the 1740s to 1903.
This project was one of several activities which make up the Mill Waters Next Steps project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and celebrates the heritage and nature of the landscapes along the River Maun and connect new people to them.
The Sutton Lawn project was run by the Gardens Trust in partnership with staff at Mill Waters, volunteers from Nottinghamshire Gardens Trust, staff from ATTFE College and local volunteers from Sutton and Mansfield. Together we have shared stories, dug through old documents and newspapers at Sutton Library and pored over old maps and council minute books at the Nottinghamshire Record Office to uncover Sutton Lawn’s past.
Supporting County Gardens Trusts
The Gardens Trust is an umbrella organisation for County Gardens Trusts (CGT’s) across England and Wales. Although they are independent organisations, we rely heavily on the knowledge, passion and dedication of their volunteers who help us respond to an increasing amount of planning applications that affect registered parks and gardens in the UK. We offer support to CGT’s through training opportunities, advocacy and special events. Find your local CGT here.
Suffolk’s Unforgettable Garden Story
An exciting Gardens Trust project, funded by Historic England, which recruited Suffolk volunteers and train them to research and record historic landscapes. As a result of the project 7 new sites were added to Historic England’s National Heritage List for England. Read more about the project here.
Community Volunteers
As part of our lottery funded ‘Engaging With Our Future‘ project aimed at sharing garden history with a whole new audience, volunteers from across the UK were invited to take part in delivering a one-off interactive activity, in their local community, that explores the garden history stories behind a series of everyday objects.
Terrific Terrariums
Terrific Terrariums was an exciting pilot community engagement activity funded by the ‘Engaging With Our Future‘ project. Participants from Forest Gate Community Garden and the Medaille Trust not only created their own terrariums using recycled jam jars but also learned how they played a vital role in the early history of parks and gardens in the UK.
Volunteers Save Space!
Funded by Historic England, this project helped us continue to support and offer training to County Gardens Trusts, through a series of digital and outreach engagement projects. The project helped CGT’s to build their capacity, reach out to new audiences and attract more supporters to their cause.
Find out more about recent Volunteers Save Space! activity researching Nottinghamshire Parks and Gardens.
Gardens Trust Community Grant
In 2022 we launched a new grant scheme for volunteer projects aimed at supporting historic designed landscapes. Made possible by a generous donation from the Gentian Trust, established by Peter and Rosy Gent, the Gardens Trust Community Grant is intended to help seed-fund volunteer projects that will support historic designed landscapes in the UK. Projects funded so far include setting up a Friends Group for Billing Road Cemetery (supported by Northamptonshire Gardens Trust) and the purchase of tools by Bradgate Park Trust for their dedicated team of gardeners who manage their kitchen garden.
Events
You may even find us at an event near you! We are regularly invited to exhibit at events such as the Gardeners World Autumn Fair held each year at Audley End. Teaming up with County Gardens Trusts, we speak to hundreds of visitors each year about the work we do to support historic gardens.
Schools
Many County Gardens Trusts work with schools, find out more by visiting their websites.
Previous projects
You can read more about our previous community engagement and outreach projects, like Sharing Repton, on our Resource Hub.
