Space to Grow

why people
need gardens
2 national tr u st

The role of the National Trust

The National Trust has been caring for special gardens for
over 110 years. Our professional interest in gardens took off
in the late 1940s, when we established a Gardens Committee
to advise us on our work. We now look after over 200 gardens
and parks and and 32 Plant Heritage National Plant Collections
and over 70,000 plant species. We employ 450 professional
gardeners, who are assisted by 1,500 volunteer gardeners.
Another 2,400 volunteers help with activities such as plant
selling and guided talks.

Octavia Hill, one of our founders, was passionate about

the idea that gardens could serve as ‘open air sitting
rooms’. Indeed, the National Trust was very nearly called
the ‘Commons and Gardens Trust’. Around 87 per cent of
the population of England, Wales and Northern Ireland now
live within 15 miles of a National Trust garden. Our gardens
often function as vital local community spaces, for example
at Osterley Park in London or East Riddlesden Hall in West
Yorkshire.

Many of the gardens in our care have special historical

significance. Almost all of the great garden designers of
the past worked on gardens that are now looked after by
the Trust, among them Charles Bridgeman, William Kent,
Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, Humphry Repton, Gertrude
Jekyll and Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe.
 space to grow 3

Space to Grow
why people need gardens

Gardens and gardening have a special place in our national

culture. Most weekends, millions of us will be planting, digging
and weeding our own plots, or appreciating other people’s
efforts as visitors to gardens. There are few who do not value
the simple pleasures that gardens and gardening can offer:
beauty, fresh air, connection with nature and plants, and
the satisfaction of growing our own food. Spending time
in a garden is time well spent.

That’s why I believe that gardens are more important

than ever before. Significantly, seven out of ten of us believe
that spending time in gardens is critical to our quality of life,
with many agreeing that it is a more enjoyable pastime than
shopping or watching TV. I am passionate about the idea that,
in today’s fast-paced society, everyone should have access
to a garden or green space that they feel entitled to enjoy and
use. After all, this was the inspirational vision of the founders
of the National Trust.

Gardens, great and small, face many challenges. The examples

in this report set out how the National Trust is responding to
these, and the measures we are taking to ensure that gardens
can be appreciated by everyone for generations to come.

Fiona Reynolds
Director-General

Left: Fiona Reynolds clearing daffodils with the gardeners

at Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire
Gardening is one of Britain’s most popular pastimes.
Most weekends 11 million of us will be tending our
gardens, and more than twice that number say they
enjoy visiting gardens each year. Put simply, gardens
are a constant source of joy and pleasure.

Gardens are places where people can play and relax.

When people were asked why spending time in gardens
was important to them, ‘unwinding’ was the most frequently
mentioned response (68 per cent). One in three members
of the public consider gardens to be romantic places that
can give your love life a boost. Walking in the scent from the
300 varieties of old-fashioned roses growing in the gardens
at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire on a summer’s evening
helps to demonstrate why!

Nine out of ten of the Trust’s most visited properties are

gardens. Even in the depths of winter thousands of visitors
come to enjoy the delicate beauty of snowdrops at properties
such as Colby Woodland Garden in Pembrokeshire and
Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge. This popularity means
that gardens open to the public are a major draw for
tourism in Britain. Gardens are important to sustaining
local economies. Visits to gardens generate an estimated
£300 million in direct spending and even more than this
in associated spending on local businesses.

Gardens bring people together. They provide a safe and

comforting environment in which to pursue a variety of
activities: exercise, socialising with friends, appreciating
nature and the seasons, or quiet contemplation. As
such, gardens are great social levellers, helping to unite
communities in ways that other public spaces often do not.

More than 12 million ‘The best thing about
people visit National Knightshayes Court garden
Trust gardens each year (above) is that it feels warm
and neighbourly. Despite
Seven out of ten of its scale and splendour I
us believe it is critical always feel I’ve just popped
to our quality of life to in to see an old friend’
spend time in gardens National Trust visitor, Devon
space to grow 5
The Gateway Gardens Trust
and Moseley Old Hall
Staffordshire
The 17th-century style garden at Moseley Old Hall is one
of many in the National Trust to work in partnership with The
Gateway Gardens Trust, which helps disadvantaged groups
of all kinds to become involved with and experience gardens.
Chairman of The Gateway Gardens Trust, Bettina Harden,
describes a typical project with local schoolchildren in the
garden at Moseley Old Hall in Staffordshire: ‘The children
came from a hugely deprived urban area. They planted seeds
in their own plot, and came back week after week to weed
and water them, and then harvest the produce. They wrote
amazing poems and drew pictures about their experiences.
It was a spectacular success.’
Bettina sees access to green spaces as a human right.
‘Gardens offer infinite resources to feed our needs as people.
One refugee child, amazed to discover the beauty of the walled
gardens at Dinefwr, asked us whether he was in paradise.’
The Gateway Gardens Trust is running a series of seminars
about increasing access to gardens and historic parks for
National Trust staff in order to develop skills and share good
practice in outreach work.
Research has shown that physical activity in green spaces
is effective in the treatment of clinical depression and can
be as successful as psychotherapy or medication,
particularly in the longer term.

The mental health charity Thrive has found that nearly one
in three disabled people believe that gardening has ongoing
health benefits, and one in five report that it has helped them
through a period of mental or physical ill health. At Clumber
Park, Nottinghamshire, the National Trust is working with
the charity Rethink and the Adult Social Care and Health
department of Nottinghamshire County Council to help
people who have suffered from severe mental illness by
providing space in the Walled Kitchen Garden to propagate
and grow vegetables and flowers.

Gardening is an excellent form of exercise. Just 30 minutes

of gardening can burn as many calories as aerobic exercise,
greatly reducing the risk of coronary heart disease and other
chronic illnesses. It can have broader health benefits too, for
example helping older people maintain stronger and more
nimble hands.

Doctors are beginning to see ‘green exercise’ and ‘horticultural

therapy’ as effective treatments for many mental and physical
conditions. At Stourhead, Wiltshire, a ‘Heritage to Health’
project has been established to help train and develop
health and social care professionals to use horticultural
therapy. Healthy gardening initiatives such as at Greys Court
in Oxfordshire offer communities the chance to enjoy these
benefits at their local Trust properties. Our many garden and
parkland walking trails provide visitors with gentle exercise
for their bodies as well as spiritual refreshment.
 space to grow 7

Anglesey Abbey
Cambridgeshire

The gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge are the site

of a pioneering project to improve the health and well-being
of local people – and particularly of disadvantaged or socially
excluded groups.

The garden has a varied network of long-term partnerships

– with charities like Mencap, health trusts, local schools and
organisations working with at risk or socially excluded groups.

Head Gardener Richard Todd has seen lives change through

the experience of working in the gardens: ‘It’s partly just the
Across the UK 21,000 magic of being in a lovely place, and doing something worth-
people a week are using while and physical with other people. Many, for instance people
garden projects to recovering from mental illness, have lost all confidence in
improve their well-being themselves. At first there’s no eye contact; they struggle to
have a conversation. But then they start gardening, see a
result, and begin to feel worthwhile. They come out of their
shell and can begin to deal with the hubbub of life. Many
Weeding for 30 ‘My garden is such a have gone on to full-time jobs.’
minutes can burn wonderful place when life
the same amount gets too much. Listening The mental health charity Red2Green has also taken over part
of calories as a to the birds and pottering of the kitchen garden, while other groups, including children
half-hour walk amongst the flowers relaxes with special educational needs, now grow vegetables which
me more than anything else they sell on to the National Trust restaurant at the property.
in the world whenever I
start to get all frazzled!’
National Trust visitor, Kent
Gardens are a great source of food, and help inspire people
to appreciate more about where their food comes from.
The Trust now cares for 26 working kitchen gardens, from
Trengwainton, Cornwall, to Wallington, Northumberland.
They are increasingly popular visitor attractions at properties,
providing opportunities for community involvement, school
plots and growing areas for disadvantaged groups as well
as fresh produce for the property restaurants and tea-rooms.

In the walled garden at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, three

gardeners and 40 volunteers grow hundreds of traditional
varieties of fruit and vegetables, including 60 kinds of tomato.
The gardeners work closely with Wimpole’s chef, Keith
Goodwin, who explains: ‘Everything here is cooked fresh.
It’s all food in season, grown locally. We don’t talk about
“food miles” here; we talk about “food feet and inches”.’

Through our gardens, we can connect with local communities.

At the magnificent 2.5 acre kitchen garden at Knightshayes
Court in Devon we work with local schools who now come
on a regular basis to tend their plots and learn about growing
food. At Hughenden Manor in Buckinghamshire there’s a
lively community-based programme of planting and gardening
sessions involving families from diverse backgrounds in High
Wycombe. Through the Landshare initiative we are committed
to offering a thousand new growing spaces by 2012, some
of which will be in redundant National Trust kitchen gardens.

We’re also encouraging volunteers and allotment holders

to cultivate traditional varieties of fruit and vegetables where
possible, and passing on the skills and know-how to help them
to do so. At Cotehele in Cornwall our cultivation of traditional
fruit varieties in the Mother Orchard helps to maintain a unique
gene bank suited to conditions in the Tamar Valley.
 space to grow 9

Gibside
near Gateshead

‘I love working with the children, sharing my love of growing

things with them and teaching them basic gardening skills
which hopefully they will take into adulthood. One of the
children told me last week that she enjoyed gardening
because she would just be bored if she stayed at home!’
says Sue Adamson, Gardener at Gibside.

Just five miles from Gateshead, Gibside was once a grand

estate built on the profits of coal mining. Now the estate is
building a different name for itself, as the centre of a thriving
community allotment scheme and a successful farmers’
21 per cent of people market. Property Manager Mick Wilkes explains, ‘The historic
have taken up gardening four-acre walled garden, long ago turfed over and turned into
to grow their own fruit a car park, is now gradually being restored, with fruit trees
and vegetables planted along its walls and the space inside divided into
allotment plots.’

So far 30 plots have been created and all are being used
The National Trust already by local people and community groups including mental
has community growing health charities, four schools, a rehabilitation service
spaces – from allotments and a homeless shelter. The only rule is
to kitchen gardens – at that plots must be kept in a reasonable
over 50 locations around condition and gardened along
the country organic principles. Most crops
‘Kitchen gardens like are grown from heritage seed
ours are fantastic places varieties, although modern
to inspire people to value varieties are used too and
food and start growing the differences discussed.
it themselves’
Christine Brain, Head
Gardener, Barrington Court,
Somerset
The Trust employs and trains volunteers as gardeners,
garden guides and stewards, and in other garden-related
roles. Similarly, our working holidays allow people to get
involved and work in our gardens. From revamping gardens
at Cwmdu in Carmarthenshire to creating a Caribbean
Herb Garden at Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton,
volunteering provides a chance to work with garden staff
and experience at first hand how to maintain and manage
historic gardens.

Many volunteers have gone on to develop successful careers

as professional gardeners with the Trust and they in turn have
a crucial role to play in helping others learn gardening skills.

The Trust’s own gardeners’ training scheme, Careership,

is the UK’s largest new entrant programme for heritage
gardeners. Since its inception in 1997, over 200 students
have been trained and many are now employed by the Trust
or are working within the botanical and heritage garden sector
in the UK and beyond.
 space to grow 11

The National Gardens Scheme

Enabling the spread of garden expertise throughout the
gardens sector is a key objective of the partnership between
the National Trust and the National Gardens Scheme (NGS).
The Careership scheme is designed to ensure a continuous
supply of suitably qualified graduate gardeners, competent to
work in historic gardens. At present 13 students each year are
supported directly by the NGS. The success of the scheme
can be measured by the number of post-Careership gardeners
now employed by the National Trust and private gardens.

Leslie Hurst, who now works as an Interactive Gardener at

Biddulph Grange Garden, says: ‘The Careership scheme is a
‘Volunteering at Colby (above) gives me something perfect balance of theoretical study and workplace experience.
worthwhile to do with my spare time, working in a lovely All aspects of working in a historic garden are covered, from
place – I don’t have a garden at home so it’s the only tools/machines through to garden history (and everything in
chance I get to garden!’ between!).’ Another former Careership student, John Hawley,
Volunteer Gardener, Colby Woodland Garden, Pembrokeshire is now the Head Gardener at Sizergh Castle and explains
the appeal of the opportunity to work for the National Trust:
‘After working in a garden for a number of years, helping to
We have 3,900 garden- shape and evolve things, you feel a part of the place, it’s in
based volunteers across your heart and soul.’
the Trust who give us nearly
40,000 hours of their time As Julia Grant, NGS Chief Executive, explains: ‘The Careership
a year – equivalent to 366 scheme allows the NGS to play a part in preserving our garden
additional posts heritage. Gardens and garden visiting are an integral part
of this country’s culture and keeping a pool of horticultural
Public gardens, domestic experts couldn’t be more important in maintaining and
gardens, botanic gardens developing this wonderful tradition.’
and parks, nursery trades,
market gardens and In addition, many National Trust gardens open their gates
historic properties employ each year for the NGS and help raise funds for the NGS’s
over 200,000 people in beneficiary charities which include Macmillan Cancer Support,
horticulture Marie Curie Cancer Care, Help the Hospices and Crossroads.
Over the last decade, the NGS has raised £25 million this way.
Our gardens are safe, secure places where people can
develop their self-esteem and confidence. We work with
the charity Thrive in the gardens at The Vyne in Hampshire,
giving disabled adults greater confidence and social skills,
a stepping stone to employment and a sense of purpose
in the community.

We provide placements under a number of different government

schemes such as the Intermediate Labour Market and New
Deal for the long-term unemployed. Biddulph Grange in
Staffordshire provides work placements and training for
training provider Total People Stoke-on-Trent.

At Sheringham Park and Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, the

Trust is working with The Prince’s Trust on re-socialisation
programmes for troubled teenagers, in some cases leading
to full-time employment. Our ‘Getting into the past’ programme
with The Prince’s Trust aims to offer an opportunity to get a
foot on the ladder in the horticulture field, for example for
12 young people not currently in education or training at
Kingston Lacy.

Our gardeners also collaborate with probation and prison

staff to provide horticultural and social skills training. Examples
include the partnership between a secure unit in Newmarket
and the gardens at Ickworth in Suffolk, and Quarry Bank Mill
in Cheshire, where prisoners from Styal are helping to restore
its newly acquired garden.

‘The ladies from Styal women’s prison had the chance
to experience a variety of skills they probably would
never have even considered. The scheme so far has
had great success with two of them on release finding
employment in a very short time and getting their
lives back on track. They still keep me updated with
their news’
Alan Knapper, Head Gardener, Quarry Bank Mill (above),
Cheshire
More than 30 National Trust gardens already have
partnerships with training bodies, social services,
prisons and organisations for people with learning
disabilities
space to grow 1 3
The Walled Garden at Stackpole
Pembrokeshire
The six acres of walled gardens on the Stackpole Estate
are leased and managed by Pembrokeshire Mencap Ltd on
a 40-year lease. The focus is on providing opportunities for
people with learning difficulties to gain horticultural skills and
work experience. Mike Evans, Trustee and Treasurer, explains:
‘We bus 45 students to the garden from their home or a care
unit during the week and they take part in pre-NVQ courses
in Horticulture and Life Skills for which we are funded by the
Welsh Assembly. Funding is also received from Pembrokeshire
Social Services.’
Students, staff, volunteers and visitors value the gardens for
the experience it offers them. Under expert guidance, the
students take responsibility for their own growing spaces
and crops. Friendly and welcoming staff and volunteers are
committed to providing students with the very best interaction
the garden presents. Visitors are also encouraged to enjoy
the space and to take advantage of the availability of delicious,
fresh, local produce through the shop. Schoolchildren also
visit to see how vegetables are grown and what they taste
like freshly picked.
Mike sees the garden as a place which coaxes people who
might not otherwise develop their own skills. ‘The Mencap
Walled Gardens at Stackpole are a peaceful oasis. This
environment encourages our students to feel comfortable
and be themselves.’
The Trust’s 200 gardens are sensitive barometers
registering the pressure of environmental change on our
lives, and on the natural world around us. Spring flowers
now bloom and trees come into leaf on average two or three
weeks earlier than 30 years ago. Summer rainfall in central
England has fallen by 20 per cent since the 19th century,
and the growing season has lengthened by a month. Frosts
are now uncommon in the West Country, and frozen lakes
and rivers have become a rarity, even in northern England.

The Trust is keen to find ways of reducing the environmental

impact of gardening. New methods, such as the solar-recharged
lawn mowers piloted at Nymans in Sussex, are being tested
alongside tried and trusted techniques, such as the restored
Victorian ram pumps used to distribute water at The Vyne
in Hampshire and Emmetts in Kent without the need for
electricity. We’re working in partnership with Yorkshire
and Clydesdale Banks to find new ways to reduce our
environmental footprint.

Green gardening methods, such as composting and water

havesting, are good for the environment and save money
as well as resources. These techniques also show how we
can care for our historic gardens without harmful chemicals.
At Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire, the garden is run on
organic principles. No chemicals are used: garden staff
rely on natural methods to maintain a balance.

Gardening without peat helps to conserve the carbon

dioxide locked up in peat bogs and protects endangered
wildlife. Amateur gardeners are currently responsible for
two thirds of all peat use in the UK, the CO2 equivalent of
277,000 return flights to Sydney. All National Trust gardens
have been peat-free since 1999, as are all the plants sold
at our properties.
 space to grow 1 5

Nymans Garden
Sussex

Nymans is admired as one of the 20th century’s outstanding

‘Our aim remains the same as when the garden was
created within the Arts and Crafts philosophy: to
restore the ideal of man in harmony with nature’
Linda Roberts, Gardener in Charge, Snowshill Manor,
Gloucestershire
British gardens but it also leads the field in demonstrating
best sustainable gardening practice. Ed Ikin, Head Gardener,
is clear about his priorities: ‘We never compromise on the
appearance of the garden – the amazing colour and display
that makes it famous – but wherever possible we use
alternative organic methods and conventional herbicides
or fungicides are a last resort. There are so many alternatives
if you look for them. In the rose garden for instance we
adopted a system from Australia of spraying regularly
with milk – a potent fungicide.’
Water consumption is a fraction of what it would be in a
conventional garden. ‘Even in the 2006 drought we watered
the borders only four times. Get the plants used to it right
from the start and they’ll adapt and their roots go deeper.’

The garden’s carbon footprint is very low. ‘Solar panels

recharge all our portable electrical equipment, including
lawnmowers. We run our vehicles on recycled vegetable
oil and we recycle almost all our waste through composting
– including from the house and restaurant.’

Members of the team pass on their experience by talking

Seven out of ten gardeners
now put concerns about
the environment into action
in their own gardens
to visitors, and by offering green garden trails, through
A garden sprinkler can interpretation panels, activity weekends and a hugely popular
use 300–650 litres in Green Living Fair. ‘People trust what they hear from our staff
an hour – as much as a and garden volunteers, because they can see that it works
family of four uses in a by looking around the garden.’
day. We are resurrecting
old wells and harvesting
rain water and installing
more efficient irrigation
Our own back gardens are the most common way for
people to experience nature close at hand. Private gardens
in the UK cover a million acres, an area almost as large as
all of the UK’s National Parks. This represents a hugely
important resource for wildlife.

Birds, bats, amphibians, fungi and a wealth of invertebrates

thrive in domestic gardens. In the typical suburban back
garden of Mendips, John Lennon’s childhood home,
a survey found beetles in the undergrowth, birds in the
hedges and a woodmouse munching on geranium seeds.

National Trust gardens are important refuges for declining

species of native flora and fauna, such as the Four-spotted
Flower Bee. Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle are two
of the best sites for dragonflies in Kent, while the old lawns
at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire boast rarities such as
Adder’s Tongue Fern and Bee Orchid. The Mistletoe Beetle
was recently found in old orchards on the Brockhampton
Estate, Herefordshire, while Celypha woodiana, a rare species
of moth protected under the Biodiversity Action Plan, was
discovered at Barrington Court, Somerset.

Wildlife-friendly gardening practices help to promote biodiversity.

Older cultivars of garden plants, especially bedding plants and
perennials, tend to have much more nectar than their modern
equivalents. This helps support pollinating insects such as bees.

Gardens have a vital role in maintaining the link between

people and the natural world. Gardening is also the easiest
way we can encourage wildlife – by providing old wood stacks
and ponds, reducing chemicals or growing a greater diversity
of plants. Gardens are likely to become increasingly important
as refuges in future decades as the countryside comes under
pressure from development and climate change.

90 per cent of adults believe that domestic gardens
have a key role in improving the natural environment
‘Formal gardens and
wildlife don’t need to be
mutually exclusive. The
two can go hand in hand
and they uniquely combine
two quintessentially
British passions’
Matthew Oates, Butterfly
Expert at the National Trust
space to grow 1 7
The Weir
Herefordshire
For 20 years, this informal 10-acre garden, set dramatically on
the banks of the River Wye, has been managed for the benefit
of wildlife. The result, according to Ned Price, Head Gardener,
is a rich sequence of sights and sounds for visitors to enjoy
from January through to late autumn.
The sheltered riverside location and abundant plant life
encourages all kinds of insects, birds and animals. ‘Rooks
and ravens, birds of prey, a great range of warblers and tits…
it’s a haven for badgers, otters, stoats, weasels, yellow-necked
mice, voles, bats, toads and frogs. There’s always so much
happening here.’
Ned’s team take positive steps to encourage wildlife:
‘We don’t cut the grass as soon as the bulbs are finished,
so meadow flowers thrive and encourage a huge variety
of insects. That brings the birds, bats and amphibians.
When we do mow, twice a year, we do it in a patchwork,
keeping wild corridors across the garden.’
As agriculture has intensified and towns expanded,
Ned sees gardens as being more and more crucial
as wildlife refuges. ‘It’s not a grand garden
here, but the peace, the simplicity,
Paving over of front the birdsong, the grasshoppers,
gardens is one of the the butterflies, the damselflies
main reasons why – the whole atmosphere –
London’s house sparrow that’s what people relate to.’
population has declined
by 70 percent in 10 years
Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren benefit each
year from the experience of visiting Trust gardens. Our
pioneering Schools Guardianship Scheme forges close
links with over 40 local schools as gardens have become
an unexpected and powerful way of bringing history,
science and geography alive. They also provide the
chance for children to learn practical growing skills.

Nothing can inspire the imagination more than a living link to

centuries past. The Ankerwycke Yew still grows in the grounds
of the ruined Priory it takes its name from in Runnymede, and
marks the very spot where the Magna Carta was sealed in
1215. A descendant of Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree bears
fruit in his garden at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire and
inspires local schoolchildren as well as generations of students
at universities who have received cuttings from the parent
plant over the years.

The Trust is now working in partnership with local education

providers on initiatives such as Forest Schools. These give
children the chance to enjoy the natural world and promote
problem-solving activities. Teachers in Sheringham’s Forest
School in Norfolk have found that under-performing pupils
excelled for the first time and visibly grew in self-esteem
following a visit to nearby Sheringham Park.

Students also come on placements or day-release schemes

from local colleges, such as those who helped to restore
the walled garden at Hughenden Manor in Buckinghamshire.
A wide range of young adults, some with mental health
problems, addictions or backgrounds as former offenders,
have helped to bring Tyntesfield’s magnificent estate in
north Somerset back to life.

The majority of the public (80 per cent) think that
all children should learn about gardening, including
growing food, at school. Studies have shown that
pupils from years six to eight developed better
interpersonal relationship skills after participating
in a garden programme
‘I know more about
gardening now, and help
my gran in her garden.
We’re going to share
our vegetables with her
friends too. My mum
didn’t know how potatoes
grow, but now I do!’
Liam, school visitor, aged 8
The recreated ‘Great
Squirt’ at Trerice
space to grow 1 9
Trerice
Cornwall
For five years Trerice’s gardens have been the setting for an
award-winning history project enabling local schoolchildren
to ‘taste the Tudors’. They discover at first hand what it was
like to work in an Elizabethan garden: growing authentic
plants, cooking and tasting the produce, even enjoying
Tudor pastimes.
James Breslin, Assistant Property Manager, says the key is
the practical quality of learning. ‘If the true history of Trerice is
to come alive, children have to get their hands dirty. You know
the old saying, ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember, but
I do and I understand’.
The garden the children have developed over the years is
based on historical sources, including the first gardening book
in English, by Thomas Hill. ‘There’s practical advice we can
use, but also lots of superstition, and quite barbaric methods
of pest control that the children call “grisly gardening” – they
love it!’
The children have recreated Hill’s ‘Great Squirt’, a massive
garden watering device. ‘The children worked with 2-inch
wide steel augurs, turned wooden pegs on lathes and made
the pistons for the device. Give children responsibility and
they’ll act responsibly.’
Gardens, James believes, are just as important as great
buildings for bringing history to life, and inspiring curiosity.
One child summed up what he’d learned over a hectic year
of planting and weeding, hoeing and watering: ‘Now I know
that gardening can be tasty.’
A hugely significant and growing area of the Trust’s
work is in the conservation of the internationally important
collections of plants that contribute directly to the character
and significance of our gardens. Many are of great cultural,
botanical and ecological value. In fact, no other organisation
in Europe has such a large and diverse collection.

We manage 32 National Plant Collections on behalf of the

cultivated plant conservation charity Plant Heritage. These
are heritage plant collections that represent particular styles
or periods of gardening and are integral to ensuring our
gardens are authentic in design and content.

Some of our plant collections have special local significance,

such as the historic Hereford and Marches apples at
Berrington Hall in Herefordshire or the Tamar daffodils
that were bred for the Cornish cut flower industry and are
conserved at Cotehele. The names of many favourite garden
plants across the UK also have their origin in Trust gardens,
such as ‘Hidcote’ lavender and Hypericum ‘Rowallane’.

Without the skills and knowledge to propagate and grow

plants, the diversity and cultural significance of our collections
could not be sustained. Based at Knightshayes Court in Devon,
the Trust’s specialist propagation facility, the Plant Conservation
Programme, ensures the survival of many of its important
specimens. In light of the recent spread of the fungal diseases
Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae we are
working with the specialist micropropagation unit at Duchy
College in Cornwall to ensure the survival of plants threatened
by the disease.

Building national and international partnerships is crucial

to conserving these plants. The Trust is a signatory to the
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which seeks to halt
the alarming rate of plant extinction worldwide.

A rare large-leaved rhododendron, Rhododendron
magnificum (KW213), in full flower
The Trust works with The
Royal Botanic Gardens,
Edinburgh, to help conserve
wild source material from
the conifers Fitzroya
cupressoides, threatened
by illegal logging in Chile,
and Torreya taxifolia (above),
a conifer native to Florida
and Georgia of which only
27 are left in the wild
space to grow 2 1
A nationwide plant hunt
The National Trust is undertaking the UK’s biggest ever
cultivated plant survey. Currently only 10 per cent of the many
thousands of plants in National Trust gardens are recorded.
Now, thanks to sponsorship from Yorkshire and Clydesdale
Bank and the dedication of hundreds of staff and volunteers,
details of at least 75 per cent of the plants in our collections
will be recorded by 2011. The database will enable the Trust
to identify which plants are most seriously threatened, and
help safeguard the future of thousands of plants that are
significant to the character of our gardens.
So far over 40,000 plant details have been recorded and
we expect this figure to move towards a million by 2011.
Volunteers are helping us survey our collections. Using GPS
technology, each plant is identified, photographed and its
details entered onto the database. This in turn is now linked
to ‘PlantCollections’, an ambitious international data sharing
project led by Chicago Botanic Gardens, of which we are
the European lead partner.
The project aims to link the databases of major plant collection
holders, arboreta and botanic gardens around the world,
to help prioritise conservation efforts at each location as a
Over 300,000 species response strategy to climate change. The database will enable
of cultivated plants are us to confirm which plants are most seriously threatened. The
grown in UK gardens, plant surveys should help safeguard the future of thousands
compared to only around of rare plants and varieties of fruit and vegetables that are
1,500 native species simply part of the character of our gardens. Mike Buffin, our
Gardens and Parks Advisor, explains, ‘We can’t promise that
nothing will be lost. But those plants we believe are most
significant to our gardens won’t be lost – that’s our aim.’
Gardens are among this country’s greatest cultural
achievements. The 18th-century landscape gardening
tradition is associated throughout the world with places
such as Stowe in Buckinghamshire or Fountains Abbey
and Studley Royal in Yorkshire, which has World Heritage
Site status.

Figures such as William Kent, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown

and Humphry Repton were crucial to the development of this
tradition – transforming earlier formal gardens into broad sweep-
ing landscape gardens. In the 19th century garden designers
such as William Nestfield, the architect Sir Charles Barry and
Gertrude Jekyll continued to experiment with new designs and
innovations: newly imported exotic plants, ever more elaborate
greenhouses, and gardens laid out to harmonise with the latest
architectural styles. The tradition continues to evolve, with new
gardens still being created in Britain.

Keeping garden traditions alive and interpreting their histories

for new generations is a vital part of the management of
all National Trust properties. At Sissinghurst in Kent, the
famous gardens designed by Vita Sackville-West are carefully
maintained by a team of gardeners in the spirit of her original
plans and methods. Stourhead in Wiltshire has been attracting
visitors since the 18th century and today over 300,000 visitors
come each year to discover its beauty for themselves.

Many of our smaller properties have gardens that are every

bit as important as those found at large country houses.
The cottage garden and orchard at Rosedene, Warwickshire
bring to life the story of the Chartists and the struggle for
democratic rights. The garden at Red House in Bexleyheath,
William Morris’s 19th-century home, is filled with cottage
garden plants which inspired some of the most iconic
designs of the Arts and Crafts movement.
 space to grow 2 3

Mount Stewart
Northern Ireland

When she arrived at Mount Stewart in the early 1920s Edith,

Lady Londonderry, found an unremarkable parkland typical of
any ‘big house’ of the day. Within 10 years, her unique passion
had created a landmark in the history of the modern garden.

Edith worked with ex-servicemen from the First World War,

‘We need these places of pilgrimage to give us space
to think and be ourselves’
Respondent to the History Matters campaign
who helped turn her passion for exotic plants into a unique
garden, ‘a fantasy, a wonderland of plant treasures’, according
to Head Gardener Phil Rollinson. Taking full advantage of the
unique microclimate found next to Strangford Lough, Mount
Stewart became a true garden of the imagination. The Italian
and Spanish gardens feature glorious and eccentric statuary.
Tudor roses nestle beneath shapely dovecotes, while clipped
Irish yews form symbols steeped in Celtic symbolism.

Together our gardens Lady Londonderry opened the garden to the public for two
represent over 400 years days a week in the 1920s and 30s. The desire to let a wide
of changing fashions in range of people enjoy the beauty of the place led her to
garden design, charting donate the garden to the National Trust in 1956.
our evolving relationship The Trust now has a delicate balance to achieve in conserving
with the natural world this design classic. We can draw on a fantastic archive of
Above, Phil Rollinson, Head diaries and paintings and the vast knowledge of Lady
Gardener at Mount Stewart Londonderry’s daughter, Lady Mairi Bury. At the same time,
– a true garden of the as Phil explains: ‘This must never become a museum piece.
imagination It’s a living collection and we want to keep to that tradition
– always looking for exciting new plants and pushing the
Over half of the population boundaries of what we can grow, just as Edith did.’
believe we are a nation
of gardeners
Our gardens have huge potential to provide public benefit,
but their future is not secure. The cost of maintaining them
keeps growing, and is currently £11 million a year. Without
new recruits to the horticultural profession, there could be
even more significant challenges in the future, as traditional
gardening skills are lost. Climate change will affect the
character and content of our gardens as well as the cost
of maintenance, and has encouraged the spread of pests
and diseases. Beyond the care of the National Trust many
gardens are at risk of being lost to development or neglect.

Developing gardening skills

A chronic lack of young people training to work in historic
and botanic gardens could result in borders and flowerbeds
at some of the country’s finest gardens being grassed over.
With almost 40 per cent of the existing workforce due to
retire by 2015, there are not enough younger staff available
to fill their shoes. Potential recruits, young and old, are put
off by what they see as a low-status job with poor wages
and conditions, and limited career prospects. Yet the reality
is that gardening provides a range of relevant skills, and career
opportunities and conditions are the best they’ve ever been.

At the National Trust our vital skills base is being eroded as

experienced staff retire and only 6 per cent of the Trust’s
gardening staff are under 25. Alongside our own Careership
programme, the Historic and Botanic Gardens skills partnership
is now helping to develop a national strategy to improve the
marketing and delivery of training and work experience for
young people. This is backed by an innovative web portal
GROW (www.growcareers.info) which the National Trust has
supported and which provides details of the different careers
and training available throughout the horticulture industry.

Adapting to climate change
Gardeners cannot stop the clock on climate change.
They know our gardens must evolve to survive as the
planet grows warmer. So the range of plant species and
the techniques used to cultivate them will inevitably have
to change.
The Trust is re-thinking what conservation in a changing
climate will mean, and we are already altering our gardening
methods. For example, we mow over 30 square miles of
lawn, consuming more than 200,000 gallons of fuel a year,
so finding alternatives is vital.
Those who care for historic gardens need to combine a
willingness to innovate with a responsibility to protect the
unique historic character of each of our gardens, and
protect the biodiversity of our heritage plant collections.
Tackling new pests and diseases
Other forces, both natural and human, threaten our gardens.
Early indicators of climate change are the increased incidence
of new pests and diseases. Phytophthora ramorum and
Phytophthora kernoviae, first identified as new to this country
in 2002, have so far affected 19 Trust properties, resulting in
the loss of thousands of plants. The Trust has already spent
over £750,000 on containment measures. We are developing
and implementing biosecurity measures through informative
posters at properties to remind our staff and volunteers
of good practice. We are also a partner in the £25 million
Government-funded programme to tackle Phytophthora.
space to grow 2 5
New pests keep coming, the latest being the Oak Processionary
Moth whose larvae can defoliate oaks and cause severe
health problems such as respiratory difficulties for humans
and animals. The Trust is working with local authorities
and organisations such as Kew Gardens and the Forestry
Commission to provide guidance and help to sites affected
or threatened by this pest.
Chestnut Leaf Miner
(Cameraria ohridella) Ensuring political and public support
Long-term political and public support of the contribution
being made by gardens depends on them responding to
public needs and wants and reaching out to new and different
audiences. We want our gardens to be more accessible and
involving. People want the chance to ask questions, to do
research, to take home new gardening ideas, interests or
produce – and in time, as volunteers, to take a hands-on
role in plant conservation under the guidance of the experts.
Oranges and other The sense of pride and achievement through being involved
citrus fruit could be a in gardens projects paves the way for people to realise their
common sight in UK
own potential. Many of the garden projects we’re involved in
gardens under climate are resource-intensive and many of them are almost entirely
change
reliant on one-off funding. Longer-term investment in this
work would allow the connections generated between the
Trust and others to become better established.
‘I spent my career as an engineer in the metal processing
industries and experienced at first hand what a mess we can
make of the environment; working in a National Trust garden
offers me an opportunity to enjoy and contribute to a better
human endeavour!’
Flooding at Coughton Tristram Hill, Volunteer at Treasurer’s House, York and
Court, Warwickshire Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, North Yorkshire
2 6 national tr u st

Call to action Recruit and

train tomorrow’s
gardeners
Use gardens
as outdoor
classrooms
Gardens have immense potential beyond the conventional
boundaries in which we place them. Through the experience
of the Trust’s own diverse collection of more than 200 gardens Greater effort needs to be Local authorities should
we have begun to understand this power and the ways in made to promote careers in actively enable and support
which gardens can transform people and places. gardening in schools. Training schools to use gardens
in horticulture should be as places for learning, and
The National Trust cannot achieve all this alone and we are boosted through education gardening as a doorway
already working in partnership with many other botanical and reforms for 14 to 19-year-olds, to science, ecology, arts
horticultural organisations across the UK and beyond. If we such as apprenticeships and and cultural learning.
are to release the potential of gardens, however, more needs work experience, and national
to be done by Government, local authorities, business and and local voluntary bodies
others to recognise the extent of the true value of gardens expanding the scope for
for the benefit of us all. garden volunteering.
There are seven areas in particular where more action
needs to be taken…

Develop garden
spaces for
communities
Expanding and improving
the quality of public and
community gardens and
allotments should be at the
heart of green infrastructure
strategies and community
development, particularly
in areas with a poverty of
green space.
Develop the
healthcare
potential
of gardens
The Government and NHS
Primary Care Trusts should
exploit the full potential of
gardens as a ‘Natural Health
Service’ in promoting physical
and mental well-being.
Investment should reflect
their role in preventative
healthcare and gardens
should be a regular
‘prescription’ to improve
the health of the nation.
Respond to
the threat
of new pests
and diseases
The Government and
the gardening sector
should raise standards
for biosecurity, domestically
and internationally, and invest
in research and eradication
programmes. We need to
support the industry in
developing sustainable,
environmentally friendly
alternatives to the many
synthetic pesticides that
will soon be withdrawn
under EU regulations.
Inspire green
thinking and
promote
greener living
All those concerned with
engaging people about
climate change, wildlife
conservation and greener
living should harness the
extremely effective vehicle
of gardens to tell the story
and inspire action through
informal learning, advocacy,
volunteering, social marketing,
campaigns and expansion of
opportunities for allotments
and other growing spaces.
space to grow 2 7
Share best
practice within
the garden and
horticultural sector
We need to share best
practice and knowledge
within the sector and provide
stronger championing of the
public benefit of gardens.
We would like to explore the
idea of building a network
of garden organisations,
to press for a better deal
for gardens.
If you require this information in alternative
formats, please call 020 7799 4541 or email
externalaffairs @ nationaltrust.org.uk
The National Trust
Heelis | Kemble Drive | Swindon SN2 2NA
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
© 2009 The National Trust | Registered charity no. 205846

Images: plant label photography throughout ©Jason Ingram; front cover ©NTPL/John
Millar; p2/3 ©NTPL/David Levenson; flower pattern ©Suk Ying Wong/istockphoto; p4
inset ©NTPL/Stuart Cox; p5 Knightshayes Court ©NTPL/Stephen Robson; p5 group
at Osterley Park ©NTPL/Sylvaine Poitau; p6 inset ©NTPL/David Levenson; p7 diggers
©NTPL/Paul Harris; p7 deckchair ©Drew Hadley/istockphoto; p7 weeding ©NTPL/Ian
Shaw; p7 Anglesey Abbey ©NTPL/David Levenson; p8 onion © Alexander Briel Perez/
istockphoto; p9 children ©National Trust; p9 produce ©NTPL/David Levenson; p9 man
with cabbages ©NTPL/Ian Shaw; p9 Gibside ©National Trust; p10 inset ©NTPL/Paul
Harris; p10 hedge trimming ©NTPL/Stephen Robson; p11 Colby Woodland Garden
©NTPL/Andrew Butler; p11 digging ©NTPL/Paul Harris; p12 inset ©National Trust; p13
Quarry Bank Mill ©NTPL/Andrew Butler; p13 trestle table and diggers ©National Trust;
p15 Snowshill Manor garden ©NTPL/Stephen Robson; p15 compost sign ©NTPL/
Geoff Morgan; p15 sprinklers ©NTPL/David Levenson; p16 inset ©NTPL/NaturePL/
Niall Benvie; p17 bee ©National Trust; p17 butterfly ©NTPL/Paul Harris; p17 paving stone
© Jason Reekie/istockphoto; p17 moth ©National Trust; p18 inset ©NTPL/Paul Harris;
p19 children ©NTPL/John Millar; p19 Trerice ©National Trust; p19 potato ©Mr P; p21
rhododendron ©National Trust; p21 conifer courtesy Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh;
p21 flowers ©NTPL/Ian Shaw; p23 angel ©NTPL/Mark Bolton; p23 Mount Stewart
©National Trust; p23 hedge ©NTPL/Simon Tranter; p24 inset ©NTPL/Stephen Robson;
p25 leaves ©National Trust; p25 oranges ©NTPL/Stephen Robson; p25 Coughton Court
©National Trust; p26 spades ©NTPL/Dennis Gilbert; p26 watering can ©NTPL/John
Millar; p26 outdoor classroom ©Whitfield Benson Photogrpahy; p27 couple at Stourhead
©NTPL/Jennie Woodcock; p27 sudden oak death ©NTPL/Stephen Robson; p27
gardeners ©NTPL/Paul Harris; back cover Ham House garden ©NTPL/Stephen Robson
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