We are delighted to announce that John Watkins has been appointed as our new Chair of Trustees.
John Watkins DHE, M.Hort(RHS), FCIHort is a professional horticulturist with some 47 years’ experience and was awarded the RHS Associate of Honour in 2016. He was Senior Lecturer at Hadlow College in Kent and worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh and Kew, the National Trust for Scotland and the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley and Hyde Hall. In 2000 John became Head of Gardens and Landscape at English Heritage (now Historic England). He has been involved in a range of restoration, conservation and interpretation projects: the Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth, the Fountain Garden at Bolsover, recreating the oak pasture around the Boscobel Oak, complex Georgian landscapes at Chiswick, Wrest Park and Marble Hill, and walled gardens at Audley End, Osborne, Mount Grace and Battle Abbey.
Working with partners across the horticultural sector he established and secured HLF funding to establish and run the Historic and Botanic Gardens Training Programmes place young people in historic gardens to receive practical training in gardens across the UK. He was on the management board of Plant Network, and the Kent Gardens Trust and whilst Chair of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust secured £7M (including HLF funding) to enable the Trust to be independent and secure. He both writes and lectures on plants and historic gardens and their management, including the Glasshouse Garden published by Conran Octopus and jointly edited and contributed to the English Heritage Manual: The Management & Maintenance of Historic Parks, Gardens & Landscapes.
Speaking about his appointment John said “I am honoured to be selected as chair of the Gardens Trust and look forward to working with staff, trustees, members and the County Gardens Trusts to champion historic gardens and landscapes at this critical time.”
Welcome to the Gardens Trust, John!
