Dorset Gardens Trust Christmas Lecture
British Summer Time
at Minterne House
Tickets
Event Details
Dorset Gardens Trust Christmas Lecture
Date: Monday 28th November
Location: Minterne House, Minterne Magna, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 7AU
Cost: £25 to include refreshments
Timings
11.00 Meet for tea, coffee and stollen
11.30 Welcome and presentations by Lord Henry Digby
11.45 Talk by Chairman of Gardens Trust, Peter Hughes KC
Introductory talk on the developments of the Gardens Trust
Talk on The Forgotten Men’: The Arts and Crafts Story behind the Drawing’
12.45 Buffet
Guests are welcome to wander around the garden after lunch if they wish
About:
We welcome Peter Hughes who is Chairman of the Board of the Gardens Trust. After his career as a barrister in private practice and as head of a large London set of chambers, and, from 2007, as a Circuit Judge, Peter Hughes retired from the Judiciary in July 2018. He completed a master’s degree course in Garden and Landscape History at London University in September 2020 and is now working on a PhD. He lives with his wife in the Lake District, where they care for an Arts and Craft house and garden.
A water colour exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1902 shows this house, but set in what has been described by garden historians as a fantasy garden, one of impossible design and complexity for its setting in the Cumbrian fells. Learning of that painting set Peter on a quest to find out more about the artist, the architect of the house, and his client, a friend from university, who went on to become a prominent London solicitor. The quest led him to join what was then the Garden History Society, to return to academic study on retirement, and to uncover the lives of two now forgotten men of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Peter will talk about what he has learnt. The architect trained at the same firm as Edwin Lutyens and was the first qualified architect to work with him in his office. The solicitor was closely involved in the development of Hampstead Garden Suburb, and in the early days of the National Trust. Together they worked on plans for a number of Arts and Crafts houses, including the house in the drawing and its actual garden, a garden that survives to this day.
We are a conservation charity working to protect the county's many historic parks and gardens for future generations.
We work with garden owners and local and national bodies to highlight, protect and encourage the conservation and restoration of designed landscapes, ranging from stately homes to public parks, cottage gardens to cemeteries. Principally funded by over 500 members, we run visits, lectures and events where members can share their interest and knowledge in a sociable atmosphere.
Through its research and recording programme, the Trust undertakes and supports research on sites of historic interest, including sites that the Trust has rediscovered, as well as on other related topics. We share knowledge through our Journal and also seek to inspire the gardeners of the future through imaginative projects with schools.