Designed landscapes are typically defined as places laid out for artistic effect or aesthetic purposes, somewhere to contemplate and admire. Yet many people have a much more active relationship with outdoor spaces, engaging with them for jogging, cycling, ball games, playgrounds and carnival rides. They are places to play.
This Gardens Trust series will examine the relationship between historic designed landscapes and organized recreation. We’ll be exploring children’s outdoor play, a world-famous theme park set among a Grade 1 Regency landscape, a Premier League football stadium that was once a Victorian pleasure ground, an early 18th-century estate that is now a golf course, and a Victorian public park which was opposed by local workers despite its claimed recreational and health-giving benefits.
This ticket (register HERE) is for this individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 5 sessions at a cost of £35 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 or £26.25). Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards.
Week One: Who amongst us doesn’t hold parks and gardens at the heart of their childhood memories? And so it has been for garden-lovers for many hundreds of years. In this light-hearted lecture, Linden Groves will take us by the hand for a skip through the history of play in gardens and parks. Together, we’ll sail boats and roll hoops in 18th century estates, then crowd onto Giant Strides and swings in public parks from the 19th- and 20th centuries, before taking a look at play in historic parks and gardens today.
Linden Groves is fascinated by the ways people experience historic parks and gardens, with a particular interest in how children have played in them through the centuries. She has researched the subject for English Heritage, the National Trust and the Royal Parks and is currently writing a book on the history of playgrounds. Linden is the author of the influential Beyond the Playground booklet (The Garden History Society, 2010), and has worked with Battle Abbey, Walmer Castle, Sudbury Children’s Country House, Land of the Fanns and the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, on how to engage families with historic places. She also runs HahaHopscotch, offering Traditional Garden Games for children in historic landscapes. Linden is Head of Operations and Strategy at the Gardens Trust. The image below is of the world-famous playground at Wicksteed Park, Kettering, courtesy of Linden Groves.
