Since the creation of the Yorkshire Gardens Trust in 1996 more than 300 events have been organised for our members and guests. Here are some recent highlights...
For reports of earlier events please follow this link to earlier Newsletters
Lecture / Talk
Yorkshire Gardens Trust and Yorkshire Philosophical Biennial Lecture
Image is of Tudor Croft Bridge by Joe Cornish
'Challenges and Opportunities for Conserving Historic Parks and Gardens in the 21st Century'
A talk by John Watkins the Chairman of The Gardens Trust
Day visit
Duncombe Park
Duncombe Park’s pleasure grounds date from c. 1718-30 and are ‘a landmark in the development of the English natural style’ (Jellicoe et al 1986). There are links with Charles Bridgeman and Sir John Vanburgh. Duncombe Park is on the HE Register at Grade I and it is also a National Nature Reserve (ancient and veteran trees).
Day visit
AGM 2026
The 2026 AGM will be held at Lotherton Hall, Leeds, LS25 3EB
Talk to be given by Dr Jemima Hubberstey ‘Unearthing Gardens in the Archive’
This talk will examine women's engagement with garden design and landscape aesthetics in the eighteenth century, focusing on the letters written by the women of the ‘Wrest Circle’ – a literary circle that centred on Jemima Marchioness Grey (née Campbell) (1722-1797) at her ancestral home of Wrest Park in Bedfordshire.
Day visit
Burton Agnes Hall
Snowdrop Visit
The first Yorkshire Gardens Trust event of the year was a snowdrop visit to the East Riding's Burton Agnes Hall on 13 February 2026.
Lecture / Talk
Bolton Abbey:
A Picturesque Landscape Garden
Lecture / Talk
Yorkshire's Designed Landscapes
- the Role of Early Yorkshire Nurseries
Lecture / Talk
Gale Common Artificial Hill of Fly Ash
– a new landscape feature with Hal Moggridge
Lecture / Talk
The role of town memorials:
collective memory, counter-memory, and forgetting in Barnsley with John Land
Day visit
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Yorkshire Sculpture Park is situated in the designed landscape of Bretton Hall, pleasure grounds of the late 18th - and early 19th-century
Day visit
University of York - Campus West Walk
The important grade II University of York Campus West 20th century designed landscape incorporates the physical remains of the early 18th century gardens and planting associated with the 16th century hall.