Search

How historic is your local park?

Fun activities to help you explore the history of your local park or garden

Take our family friendly activity sheets on your next visit to uncover its past and be inspired to create your own!

Garden History Bingo

Parks and gardens contain lots of interesting features, many of which can be quite old and historic. Tell us what you can spot in your local park or garden and when you think they were first built.

Write a letter to your local park

We all love our local parks and gardens and this activity helps us take a moment to appreciate what makes them so wonderful. Imagine your park was a person - what would you write in a letter to show them how much you care?

Download our Dear Park activity sheet here (PDF)

Looking for inspiration for your letter? Read a piece written by Jo Barnes, Trustee of the Gardens Trust, on how much she values historic places today.

Download Jo’s article here (PDF)

Design your own historic garden

Much like landscape designers from the past, you've been given the task of designing your own beautiful garden. Taking inspiration from historic parks and gardens across Britain, create your own landscape masterpiece!

How historic is your local park?

Places

Eleonora Tonon takes us on a tour of Cecil Pinsent’s famous 20th Century gardens in Tuscany, from their inspiration to their creation.

People

Cecil Pinsent trained in London before settling in Florence, where he created symmetrical, geometrically ordered Tuscan gardens for the vibrant local Anglo-American expatriate community.

Styles / Topics

English gardens have been deeply intertwined with Italian design since Roman antiquity, evolving through Tudor symmetry, classical 18th-century revivalism, and Victorian geometric formalism.