News & Events

Please note that events are for members only and generally have to be pre-booked.

A booking form is sent to members with the newsletter in January and June.

Mid March                            Lecture                      Event 1

Chinoiserie, Tea, Trade Routes and a Taste for the Exotic. Talk by Dr. Laura Mayer.                

We are delighted to welcome back Laura, a renowned independent lecturer and researcher who has published extensively. She has an MA in Garden History and a PhD in C18 architectural & landscape patronage.  Chinoiserie, an early European interest in the arts, architecture and gardening of the Far East, blossomed in Georgian Britain.  Soon every landscape park and public pleasure ground in the country had a pagoda or tea-house, a Chinese bridge, barge or brightly painted umbrella under which to take tea. Laura will examine the expanding trade routes of C18 Britain as well as the craze for informal gardening which begs the question ‘Just how English was the English landscape garden after all?'

Afternoon refreshments are included.

 Late March                           Visit                           Event 2

Llanover House, Nr. Abergavenny. 

By kind permission of Mrs. Elizabeth Murray.

An early spring visit to a beautiful 15 acre listed garden and arboretum. It holds one of Wales’s largest collections of magnolias and, if the weather gods have been kind, as they have been over the past 5 years, the flowers will be superb.  Numerous spring bulbs and camellias, herbaceous borders within circular walled garden.  Lakes, streams and water features fed by the Rhyd-y-Meirch stream. Featured in Gardens Illustrated October 2025.

To include guided tour and refreshments.

 May                                      AGM                          Event 3

Perrycroft, Upper Colwall.              

By kind permission of Gillian and Mark Archer.

A 10 acre garden and woodland on the upper slopes of the Malvern Hills with glorious views across Herefordshire and into Wales. The garden has been developed over the past 24 years and is set around an Arts and Crafts house designed by CFA Voysey (not open). Yew and box hedges, topiary, mixed herbaceous borders, meadows, ponds & woodland. Some steep and uneven paths.

Garden visit followed by AGM.

Wine and refreshments are included.

Mid June                              Visit                           Event 4

Lasborough Park, Tetbury. 

By kind permission of Sir Hans Rousing.

Lasborough Park, built to designs by James Wyatt around 1800 is a very picturesque, castellated house overlooking a beautiful, steep-sided limestone valley. The 12 acre garden including formal lawns, shrubs, roses and herbaceous border has remained more or less unchanged since the 1840’s, but has been revised by the present owners over the last 8 years. The pièce de resistance is the walled garden, planned around a large glasshouse built on the site of a previous structure shown on mid-C19 plans. The planting throughout the garden reflects the fruits of a long collaboration between Julia Rausing and Tom Stuart-Smith. Mrs Rausing loved old fashioned flowers, especially roses and the garden brims over with them in mid-summer. 

Includes a guided tour and afternoon tea and cakes.

Late June                              Visit                          Event 5

Millfield, Eaton Bishop.

By kind permission of Richard and Angela Mainwaring.

1½ acre informal country garden shared with wildlife. The terrace and vegetable garden are enclosed by pergolas and espalier fruit trees.  Mixed borders of trees, shrubs and perennials create their own tapestry with plenty of self-sown plants to surprise and inspire us! Grass paths connect the borders, ponds and a wildflower meadow and native hedges and trees enclose and divide the different areas. 

Visit includes refreshments.

Early July                              Visit                          Event 6

The Green, Welsh Bicknor.  

By kind permission of Patrick and Laura Vaughan.

An enchanting garden created by the current owner from a few acres of farmland. The Green perches on one side of a hill with magnificent views overlooking the River Wye and wooded hills beyond, built on several levels accessed by steps. A bold box parterre and an abundance of roses.  Featured in House and Garden in 2023.

Afternoon tea is included.

Late July                               Visit                          Event 7

Ivy Cottage, Malvern.

By kind permission of Jeffrey Haworth and Paul Finn.

The Trustees invite Members, Partners and Potential Members to a Garden Drinks Party at Ivy Cottage, a hidden, private acre of landscape at the upper part of the Common.

August                                 Visit                          Event 8

Bromesberrow Place, Nr. Ledbury.

By kind permission of the Hon. Dr. Gilbert and Mrs. Greenall.

The visit will be hosted by Dr and Mrs Greenhall and include a tour of the house and grounds and an address on 'The Grandeur and Decline of the English Country House'.

Refreshments on arrival are included.

Mid October                               Visit                          Event 9

Bodenham Arboretum, Kidderminster.

Bodenham is situated in a protected valley, away from traffic noise and visual intrusions. Its 170 acres contain mature woodland, specimen trees and shrubs – over 3000 species in total which include important collections such as Acers, North American Oaks and Alders, and two chains of pools and lakes, integrated within a working farm. The plantings and water, combined, cover 54 acres, 15 pools have their own constant supply of water.

Lunch is available in the cafe.

Late October                              Lecture                     Event 10

Country Houses and Gardens of Derbyshire.   Oliver Gerrish.

Oliver Gerrish, former Chairman of the Young Georgians, is a busy director of Cultural Tours.  Derbyshire is rich in historic gardens, as well as the famous ones at Chatsworth and Renishaw which will also feature in this garden orientated talk.

Refreshments will be served after the lecture.