NEWS & EVENTS: Our Past Events
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Visit to Blunts Hall, Blunts Hall Rd, Witham, including a guided tour from the owner, Lesley Gamblin
Join us for a summer afternoon’s visit to Blunts Hall, a delightful, and interesting, 3-acre Victorian garden, on the outskirts of Witham. Our private tour, kindly offered by the owners, will include a woodland walk around a spring-fed pond, a fernery and specimen trees. There is also an orchard (with old & new fruit trees), a vegetable plot (with restored garden building) and even a Listed Ancient Monument!
Close to a Courtyard Garden, there is a Terrace leading down to lawns, a reinstated Parterre and abundantly filled herbaceous borders; and during the afternoon, we will have the opportunity to relax and enjoy refreshments served here.
Where? Blunts Hall, Blunts Hall Rd, Witham
When? Saturday 13th July 2024 2pm - 4.30pm
Tickets: EGT Members: £12.00 & Non-members and guests: £14.00
Visit to and tour of Benton End House and Garden, Hadleigh, Suffolk
Guided tour by Matthew Hodges
Benton End house and gardens in Hadleigh, Suffolk is the former home of celebrated artist and gardener Sir Cedric Morris (1889 – 1982) and artist, Arthur Lett-Haines, known as Lett, (1894–1978); lifelong partners, they met on Armistice Night in 1918.
Together they ran the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing – a sanctuary for a diverse range of influential artists, writers, musicians, and botanists of the 20th century. Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling were among their students. Vita Sackville-West, Beth Chatto, Paul and John Nash, Elizabeth David, Constance Spry and Benjamin Britten all frequented the house.
In 2021 Benton End was majority gifted to the Garden Museum by The Pinchbeck Charitable Trust with the aim of reopening the house and garden to the public once again. We are delighted to have the chance to visit this garden as it develops.
Where? Benton End House and Garden, Hadleigh, Suffolk
When? Thursday 6th June 2024, 10.30-1.00
Tickets: EGT Members: £23.00 & Non-members and guests: £25.00
Sketch & Scribe creative illustration and prose workshop
Based at Fête restaurant Gray’s Brewery Yard, Chelmsford, Essex with the workshop activity in nearby Chelmsford Central Park
Essex Gardens Trust’s Writer in Residence, Siobhan Pierce and Artist in Residence, Jane Frederick invite you to join them this Spring to develop your creative writing and drawing skills in the glorious Central Park, nestling in the heart of Chelmsford.
This small and friendly workshop is designed to help you develop your confidence in drawing and writing outdoors whilst mindfully engaging with some of the most treasured green spaces in Essex.
Jane and Siobhan will help you to take visual and written inspiration from the peaceful urban green oasis and find your own way to mindfully respond to the theme of ‘City Park life’ through drawing and prose.
Jane will demonstrate playful pen and ink- wash techniques and show you how to capture an atmospheric illustration of the landscaped parkland.
Siobhan will encourage you to seek inspiration from the varied landscape of the park by providing examples of nature and urban writing and suggesting creative hotspots that will hopefully get your imagination flowing!
Central Park was opened in 1894 and is one of the oldest public parks in Chelmsford. Today, it also includes Central Park Memorial Gardens, Frank Whitmore Place, Bell Meadow and Sky Blue Pasture with over 35.6 acres of parkland together with a Nature Reserve.
There is plenty of inspiration to be found including waterways, architectural monuments, formal flower beds and majestic mature trees.
The fabulous restaurant will be our venue for the day and is just a short stroll away from the park. Refreshments are available for participants to purchase at the downstairs bar area (a little bird mentioned that they provide very good coffee and cake!) alternatively you can bring your own packed lunch and enjoy al fresco dining in the park.
Suitable for complete beginners or the more experienced, this friendly and practical workshop is designed to help you develop your confidence in drawing and creative writing and learn how to create atmospheric impressions of the landscape. Your ticket includes individual tuition from both tutors and all materials.
Both Central Park and Fête are just a short walk from Chelmsford Rail and Bus stations and city parking facilities. The Chelmsford Park and Ride service also operates regular bus services into the city centre.
Where? Unit 10 – 13 Grays Brewery Yard, Chelmsford, CM2 6QR
Central Park Parkway, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1LU
When? Thursday 23rd May 2024 10-3pm
Spaces are limited to 15 per workshop so early booking is recommended.
Tickets: EGT Members: £40.00 & Non-members and guests: £45.00
Visit to and tour of Little Bentley Hall, Waterways and Garden
Guided tour by the owner Christopher Palmer-Tomkinson
The gardens at Little Bentley Hall have been transformed over the last 30 years under the ownership of Christopher and Virginia Palmer-Tomkinson. The present Georgian house was built sometime between 1810-20. It was preceded, however, by a grand mansion built by a 16th century London merchant which only lasted two generations before it was demolished due to a profligate son-in-law, the 20th Earl of Oxford Aubrey de Vere. Traces of the estate's existence remained in the remnants of garden walls and in fish stew ponds. Christopher will guide us around the garden to show how they transformed the open fields surrounding the house by creating a lake linked to waterways, adding terraces to the house, and planting a woodland garden extending into grass meadows. The gardens in spring are ablaze with colour from rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas, primulas, and bulbs. The gardens adjoin a 107-acre ancient woodland. In May, the canopy of trees including chestnuts, limes and oaks are highlighted by the vivid displays of bluebells and wood anemones.
Where? Little Bentley Hall in Tendring District
When? 11th May 2024
Tickets: EGT Members: £8.00 & Non-members and guests: £10.00
Visit to Wrest Park with guided tour
Andrew Hann will lead us on a tour of the grounds of Wrest Park to allow us to experience in person the landscapes we heard about in his earlier lecture. Visitors will be able to see the progress made on English Heritage’s 20-year master plan for Wrest Park, which started in 2006 and has included new visitor facilities, restoration of the rose and Italian gardens and the French Parterre. Most recently the Bath House grounds were restored and replanted based on detailed survey and research.
The visit has been timed to take advantage of the display of spring flowering bulbs.
As this is an English Heritage property, those who are not members of EH will also need to pay for admission to the site; members of EH will need to bring their membership cards!
Where? Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire
When? 25th April 2024
Tickets: EGT Members: £8.0 & Non-members and guests: £10.00
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The AGM is an opportunity to look back at what we did last year, to hear about plans for the future and to see old friends and new, (albeit only on a screen). We hope that as many of you as possible will join the Trustees for this meeting, enabling a quorum to be achieved.
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EGT sponsored four blue plaques celebrating and honouring the lives and achievements of four significant Essex-based women gardeners as part of the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project.
The final unveiling will remember both Beth Chatto and her friend and mentor, Pamela Underwood, at the Beth Chatto Gardens.
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A great opportunity to join EGT at Audly End to take a look at the Capability Brown Landscape.
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We are delighted to be launching the Essex Garden Trust’s new writing competition named after the renowned plantswoman Beth Chatto.
The prize is for creative writing; a short story, novel, extract or a piece of life-writing or memoir to be no more than 2000 words in which a garden or landscape is an essential part of the plot, character development or the creation of atmosphere.
The competition will be launched on 19th June as part of the Essex Book Festival’s ‘The Pleasure Garden’ event at Hylands House and will be open from 19th June to 31st August. The competition is open to writers who live, work or study in the historic area of Essex.
There are cash prizes of £200 for the winner and £75 for two runners-up plus Beth Chatto memberships and vouchers. Entries will be judged by Essex writers Seona Ford, James Canton and Chris Penhall.
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Unveiling of a commemorative blue plaque to honour the life and legacy of Ellen Ann Willmott of Warley Place, for EGT Members
On behalf of the Essex Garden’s Trust and the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project, I am delighted to invite you to attend the unveiling by Mrs. Jennifer Tolhurst, Lord-Lieutenant of Essex of a commemorative plaque to honour the life and legacy of Ellen Ann Willmott of Warley Place.
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The first plaque sponsored by Essex Gardens Trust, as part of the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project, commemorating Mrs Helen Robinson will be unveiled at the entrance to the farmhouse at RHS Hyde Hall on 7th July from 4.30pm by Mrs. Jennifer Tolhurst, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Essex.
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Our first EGT visit of 2022 offers a very special treat, bringing together the pleasures of both Art and a Garden with not just one private tour, but two! The Fry Art Gallery and Bridge End Garden, both of which we will be visiting, are located close to each other in the attractive town of Saffron Walden.
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Would you like to develop your drawing skills in the setting of an unforgettable Essex garden?
Join Jane Frederick, Essex Gardens Trust Artist in Residence for a series of 6 Draw & Tour workshops. Each workshop is designed to help you develop your confidence in drawing outdoors whilst mindfully engaging with some of the most treasured gardens in Essex. The first 3 workshops will be held during the summer of 2021 followed by a further 3 in 2022.
These relaxed outdoor workshops will teach you how to really look and understand what you are drawing as well as encouraging you to be ‘Bold, Loose and Accurate’ with your approach.
Each small and friendly workshop includes individual tuition, a guided tour of the gardens, all materials and afternoon refreshments. It is suitable for complete beginners, all that is required is curiosity and a willingness to have a go and try something new!
Prices are for each workshop.
Programme
Introductory talk by Jane
Guided tour
Drawing session in the garden with guidance from Jane
Lunch break (bring own lunch)
Second drawing session
Round up talk and discussion with tea and cake
3pm, depart
Please bring wet weather gear, lunch and smart phone, if you have one, to help plan your drawing. Detailed information for attendees will be mailed out in advance of the session. Spaces are limited to 12 per workshop so early booking is recommended.
Jane Frederick is currently Artist in Residence with Essex Gardens Trust. In 2020 Arts Council England supported the launch of the Garden Seekers Project in Felixstowe where she became the first Artist in Residence at Hamilton MAS, the micro art space by the sea. Based in the recently restored Heritage Seafront Gardens post lockdown she developed a new body of paintings and drawings that celebrate and explore the community affections for the Victorian pleasure gardens. She has taught drawing at Colchester School of Art for over two decades and has a wealth of experience encouraging drawing development at all levels. She is passionate about making drawing accessible to all and regularly runs gallery based workshops for complete beginners as well as experienced artists.
You can view examples of her work at www.gardenseekersproject.co.uk
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China, with its abundant variety of both sophisticated and traditional horticultural methods, has long been recognized, not only for its lovely gardens, but as a serious contributor to global horticulture and plant conservation. In his talk, Timothy Walker will give us an entertaining and fascinating view over centuries of gardens and gardening in China. We will be taken on a tour of some of the 35, uniquely beautiful sites he visited while on a seven week Churchill Travelling Fellowship tour in that country. As a plant scientist and gardener, he will enrich our visit with his own experiences and extensive botanical knowledge
Today, as the world warms, plant and seed conservation becomes increasingly important. In his talk, Timothy will also introduce us to how modern gardens in this fascinating country are contributing to global conservation by successfully safeguarding the thousands of plant species in China.
Timothy Walker is a renowned lecturer, botanist and gardener. From 1988 to 2014, he was the director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum; during this period, their show gardens won four gold medals and a number of silver medals at the Chelsea Flower Shows. Since 2014 he has been a College lecturer and tutor in Plant Sciences at Somerville College Oxford. His particular interests are euphorbias, pollination, and plant conservation. For more information on Timothy, please visit his website Timothy Walker - horticultural lecturer.
