Author | Lightnews

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · 3d

The latest post on the blog (bit.ly/43lsvyO) looks at mobile heritage (particularly planes, trains and boats), and what happens when this heritage is no longer so mobile, e.g. the protection of wrecks, scheduling, and - rarely - designating a boat as a listed building….

An old plane in flight, silhouetted against the sky.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · 3d

Historic England’s 2025 #HeritageAtRisk ‘Register’ (more of a map and webpage, these days) is out: bit.ly/4osN6JO. There are now 105 parks & gardens on it, an increase of 2 since last year (2 removals, 4 additions):
🌳 2024: 103
🌳 2023:104
🌳 2022: 104
🌳 2021:104

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · 10d

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/4qwRdWV) focuses on the extraordinarily charming gardens at Kentwell Hall, in Suffolk, centred on a C16 house with moat, and featuring lodges, topiary, an ice house, tree sculpture, a camera obscura, a walled garden, a C20 ha-ha, and more….

A red brick bridge over a moat to an old red brick house, with large topiary in the background.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · 17d

The latest post on the blog (bit.ly/49j2KCS) looks at the origins of the National Garden Scheme. Set up in 1927, c.600 gardens opened in its first year, 72 of which also opened in 2025; 2 of those have opened every year since 1927, and over three-quarters are registered.

A yellow National Garden Scheme direction sign on a fence, reading ‘garden open for charity’, with countryside behind.

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · 24d

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/4hc5802) looks at plants, specifically the Pittosporum genus. Attractive evergreen shrubs, in a range of forms, they have an interesting history, and may be regarded as stalwarts of the garden.

An evergreen shrub with attractive wavy-edged leaves and small purple flowers.

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Oct 10

The latest post on the blog looks at the history and future of the gardens at the wonderful Hestercombe, in Somerset: bit.ly/46MoTYL.

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Oct 9

A tai-haku in the sun, neatly working its way through the colours of a traffic light. 🚦 #Autumn

A tree in autumn, with red, yellow and green leaves.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Oct 3

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/4mQauj5) explores and compares the botanic gardens of Oxford and Cambridge - whilst they have much in common, they are nevertheless remarkably different in terms of age, area, number of plant species, and their approach to plant taxonomy.

A stone wall and gate, with a deep herbaceous border running alongside, and trees behind.

A bell tower seen through trees, with a lawn in the foreground.

A winding gravel path bordered with grass, trees and shrubs.

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Oct 2

A glorious display of delphiniums at West Dean Gardens this week.

A cluster of pink, white, blue, lilac and purple flowers.

2

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Sep 26

The latest post on the blog is on the subject of crinkle-crankle walls (bit.ly/4pHVkic), specifically the history, science, frequency and distribution of these delightful structures.

A sinuous brick wall, surrounded by trees and shrubs.

A gently sinuous brick wall, with a substantial herbaceous border in front of it, and a lawn, and trees behind.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Sep 19

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/423cRaF) looks at Lawrence Johnston’s two gardens: Hidcote (Gloucestershire), and Serre de la Madone (Côte d’Azur). Despite significant differences - not least in climate and topography - they also have much in common.

A stone house with a flower-filled garden in front of it.

A yellow house above a series of plant-filled terraces, with woodland behind and to either side.

1 3

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Sep 12

I was reminded of Jurassic Park recently, having seen this Ficus macrophylla bursting out of a tiny pot and thriving: ‘Life, uh, finds a way’. More specifically:

*Life breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers….*

#GardensAndDinosaurs

Plant expanding dramatically beyond the bounds of the pot it was planted in.

Large plant thriving (origins in a tiny pot not visible).

1 1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Sep 12

The latest post on the blog (bit.ly/47HjuDe) looks at the temptation of the brown tourist sign, as well as its origins and use. There is, of course, one for gardens, though - as in this picture - the gardens are often usurped by their parent houses.

A brown tourist sign, to Kelmscott Manor.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Sep 5

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/4lXcCVt) takes a look at the Venetian Waterways, in Norfolk. Created in the 1920s, they comprise gardens around a boating lake and winding canals, and reopened in 2019 after restoration. #GreatYarmouth

A canal winding through a coastal garden, past flower beds and a thatched hut.

1 3

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Sep 4

The pittosporum is fruiting… not seen that before.

Green fruit emerging amongst green leaves.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 29

The latest post on the blog (bit.ly/45RQTs3) explores the abandoned village of Imber, in Wiltshire. The villagers were forced to leave in 1943, so the area could be used for military training, and never allowed to return. It’s now only partly intact, and of course empty.

An abandoned brick building surrounded by trees, behind a sign advising of danger from unexploded military debris.

1 2

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 22

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/45Hg6W3) looks at the phenomenon of concrete boats. There are more of them than you might expect, and they do indeed float.

A wide concrete barge, on a canal in front of a brick warehouse.

Reposted by Gardens, Heritage & Planning

𝔖𝔦𝔪𝔬𝔫 ℜ𝔞𝔪𝔰𝔡𝔢𝔫 @sjramsden.bsky.social · Aug 19

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Entire church begins two-day journey across Swedish city of Kiruna

The landmark 113-year-old wooden building is at risk from subsidence and will be moved 5km on giant rolling platforms.

www.bbc.co.uk

1 1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 19

The hollow trunk of the wild pear at the Cambridge Botanic Garden was also filled in the 1960s, and that filling (bricks) then covered in tar. The tree continues to grow, and is slowly swallowing the bricks. [3 of 3]

On the left, the wild pear tree at the Cambridge Botanic Garden; on the right, the trunk filled with bricks.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 19

The Down House mulberry is around 250 years old, and is still producing fruit. Used by Charles Darwin’s children to climb from their bedrooms to the garden, its hollow trunk was filled with concrete in the 1960s; a number of its branches are supported by props. [2 of 3]

On the left, the mulberry tree at Down House; on the right, the trunk filled with concrete.

1 1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 19

It used to be believed that filling the trunks of hollow trees would keep out infection and help the tree to heal. No longer recommended, happily it doesn’t appear to have done too much harm to the mulberry at Down House and wild pear at the Cambridge Botanic Garden. [1 of 3]

On the left, a tree trunk filled with concrete, and on the right, one filled with bricks.

1 2

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 17

Great weather - and great company - at Ascott today (a Grade II* Rothschild garden, in Buckinghamshire).

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 15

The latest post on the blog (bit.ly/3Ji7WvV) explores the garden at Villa Foscari, a Palladian villa in the Veneto. Largely reflecting a design from the 1920s, it is an elegant and tranquil space.

A house with a columned portico, facing a lawn and a river.

1

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 8

This week’s blog post (bit.ly/45r4kPw) explores the garden at Shaw’s Corner, the Hertfordshire home where George Bernard Shaw and his wife, Charlotte, spent four decades. A charming and tranquil space, it comes complete with a rotating writing hut. As should all gardens.

An Arts & Crafts family home made of red brick, with a lawn in front and trees to the sides.

Gardens, Heritage & Planning @gardenheritage.bsky.social · Aug 4

This is interesting. Not just in relation to the garden-related uprising, but also due to the fact that it was prompted in part by ‘the antient persons’ not being able to ‘walke for their pleasures’ in the common fields. Given that I too like a nice walke, I’m feeling rather antient myself, now….

pasttensehistories.bsky.social @pasttensehistories.bsky.social · Aug 4

#OnThisDay in London radical history, 1549, boisterous Londoners demolish gardens built by rich folk on 'suburban common fields' outside the walls of the City,: probably on Moorfields or Finsbury Fields, open spaces with a tradition of such demolitions. wp.me/p74yfw-Fe

Today in London radical history, 1549: Londoners demolish rich folk’s gardens in ‘suburban common fields’

“Before this time the inhabitants of the towns about London, ‘Iseldon’, Hoxton, Shoresditch, and others, had so inclosed the common fields with hedges and ditches, that neither the young men of the…

wp.me

1 2