Suffolk’s Unforgettable Garden Story

Suffolk’s Unforgettable Garden Story is an exciting new Gardens Trust project, funded by Historic England, which aims to recruit Suffolk volunteers and train them to research and record historic landscapes. The project will draw attention to the value of the county’s historic designed landscapes, and support local communities to champion their landscape heritage, ensuring its future protection.

Calling all Suffolk Volunteers

Over the next 18 months we will work closely with Suffolk Gardens Trust to recruit, train and support volunteers to research and record local historic landscapes. We want to draw on local knowledge and expertise to help ensure that these landscapes at risk are better understood and protected. Might you be interested?

The project aims to:

• Compile a list of significant but non-designated landscapes, in other words those that are not included on Historic England’s Register of Parks and Gardens. We hope that the list will encompass a broad representation including some urban and 20th century sites from across the county.
• Research and record these sites, and submit the information to the National Heritage List for England. We will also add it to Enrich the List, Historic Environment Records and other local lists.

Timetable

The Gardens Trust will be hosting a welcome event in September for anyone interested in getting involved in the project. Details will be announced shortly. Then, from October to December we will run six research and recording training sessions for volunteers. These will include contributions from Historic England and Suffolk Archives. The research and recording of Suffolk sites will be carried out between January and June 2023, with final candidates for the NHLE being identified in June 2023.

Throughout this project we will focus on engaging the interest of people who are new to the subject and working collaboratively with volunteers. We hope to give people new skills as well as empower them to do more research and recording after project has finished.

To get started, we are running two introductory events over the summer. The first will be a webinar about how to recruit volunteers in the last week of July – see our events section or contact karina.flynn@thegardenstrust.org for details. This will be followed by a project workshop for Suffolk Gardens Trust members in August or early September.

Karina Flynn
Volunteer Support Officer, Suffolk