Berkshire
Gardens Trust
Reg.Charity No.1201501
News
Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust Celebrates 25 Years
Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust are celebrating their 25th Anniversary with an extensive programme of events throughout the year at venues across Buckinghamshire. Events are open to all. Members of other County Gardens Trusts are particularly welcome. Full details can be found at:
THE BICYCLE BOYS - part of the 'Unforgettable Gardens' Campaign
Sam Brewster with bikes taken by Loyal Johnson, 18 August 1928.
Credit: RHS Lindley Collections
April 2022: The Berkshire Gardens Trust is delighted to be taking part in ‘The Bicycle Boys’, an exciting collaboration between the Gardens Trust and the RHS.
In 1928, two young Americans embarked on an epic journey to explore Britain’s best gardens by bike. In just 3 months, Loyal Johnson and his friend Sam Brewster cycled more than 1500 miles and visited over 80 gardens across the UK. They left behind a wonderfully detailed travel journal, which Loyal’s son donated to the RHS Lindley Library in 2015. Loyal’s diary provides a fascinating snapshot of British culture and British gardens in the 1920s.
We are one of 14 County Gardens Trusts across the UK to have been following in the footsteps (or cycle tracks) of Loyal and Sam. Folly Farm, a Berkshire gem, is one of the many gardens that Loyal and Sam visited over the summer of 1928, and it will feature alongside those of other County Gardens Trusts in a new online exhibition: ‘The Bicycle Boys: An Unforgettable Garden Tour’, which will launch on the RHS Libraries website on 8 June 2022. More information here.
The project forms part of the Gardens Trust’s Unforgettable Gardens campaign to raise awareness of the value of local parks and gardens and the importance of protecting them for our future.
GREEN HERITAGE SITE AWARDS 2021
Many congratulations to Reading Borough Council and to the Friends of Caversham Court for their success in receiving this prestigious award.
Two of Reading’s most popular open spaces, Forbury Gardens and Caversham Court Gardens, have once again been recognised as among the best in the country after receiving Green Flag and Green Heritage Site awards.
Whereas the Green Flag Award recognises high-quality maintenance and excellent wildlife-and climate-friendly practices, the Green Heritage Site award is awarded for parks which have conserved their historical features to a high standard and maintain their historic character and appearance.
The Green Flag Award scheme is managed by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy to recognise and reward well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world
Forbury Gardens
Caversham Court
Historic England's Latest Heritage at Risk Register 14 November 2020
People regularly say how much the historic character of where they live, work and play contributes to their lives. Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register tells communities about the condition of registered parks and gardens in their local neighbourhood. It aims to encourage people to become actively involved in looking after what is precious to them and reassures them that any public funding goes to the most needy and urgent cases.
The Register is updated regularly and the latest version of it has six parks and gardens in Berkshire:
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Aldermaston Court - Grade II
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Broadmoor Hospital - Grade II
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Bearwood College - Grade II*
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Newbold College Grade II*
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Shaw House - Grade II
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Sandleford Priory - Grade II
The Register also includes some of the listed gate piers at Hamstead Marshall (Grade II) – see our separate article about this significant historical landscape.
See the entire Heritage at Risk Register by clicking here - https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/findings/
Please contact BGT with your thoughts on how we can help to conserve and enhance these important places.
Historic England
Historic England has recently announced 24 new protections by Historic England have been the result of a three-year collaboration with The Gardens Trust, and thanks to suggestions from landscape professionals and members of the public, some of the best examples of landscapes designed between the end of the Second World War and the early 1990s have been identified for protection. Although none are in Berkshire, it is great to see Runnymede on our borders added as Grade II, and nearby St Catherine's College, Oxford upgraded to Grade I.
To see the full list see link below:
Newbold College
