Why So special? Iconic C20 Landscapes - Stockley Park

FOLAR and The Gardens Trust are delighted to present a series of weekly online talks reviewing the 21 recently registered Historic England post war landscapes and gardens and their designers.

[To see details of this particular talk please scroll down beyond the listings]

The purpose of the series is to focus attention on the ideas, ingenuity and quality of each of these C20 designs. With a brilliant array of speakers including the original designers, academics, historians and researchers plus further insights from head gardeners, residents, site managers and users, we aim to reveal more detail about the design, the designer, how the landscape/garden works, how it has endured over the years, and what its future is like even with Historic England (HE) listing. We also want to discuss availability and access to drawings and papers related to the projects.

These landscapes and gardens range from private gardens to vast reclamation projects. Throughout the UK many C20 designed gardens and landscapes are at great risk from being unnoticed or under-valued, or they are maintained without any awareness of the original concept, such that sites get swept away, ‘improved’ or built over. We hope that this series of talks will help to change this.

The series runs from 7 September 2021 to 29 March 2022, grouped by subject and with a week’s break between topics. [and nothing in December] All talks are on Tuesdays from 18.00-19.15.

This ticket is for this individual talk and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual talks via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire series of 21 talks at a cost of £84 via the link here.

FOLAR members can buy tickets for either the entire series or for individual talks at the reduced price of £60 and £3.50. Please note that Landscape Institute members are not automatically members of FOLAR.

For a detailed description of each talk please click on the individual ticket for more information (which will be updated with information when available). FOLAR members can access their ticket prices at checkout.

To join FOLAR (Individual membership subscription - £20 per annum) go to www.folar.uk/support-us.

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 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

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New Town Parks

Week 1: 7 September. Harlow Town Park with David Allen and Alison Fox. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84

Week 2: 14 September. Campbell Park Milton Keynes with Neil Higson and Brian Salter. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Commercial Landscapes

Week 3: 28 September. Stockley Park with Bernard Ede and Claire Watson. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 4: 5 October. Broadwater Park with Karen Fitzsimon. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 5: 12 October. Cummins Engine Factory with Jane Amidon and Matthew Benians. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 6: 19 October. Cadbury Factory with Ed Bennis and Rob Belcher. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Public Housing

Week 7: 2 November. Alexandra Road Park with Neil Davidson. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 8: 9 November. Brunel Estate with Colin Moore. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 9: 16 November. Golden Lane Estate with Elain Harwood and Clem Cecil. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 10: 23 November. Churchill Gardens with Dominic Cole. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 11: 30 November. Alton East and West with Elain Harwood. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Semi-Public Gardens

Week 12: 11 January. Improvement Garden Stockwood Park with Kate Harwood. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 13: 18 January. Roper’s Garden with Ed Bennis. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 14: 25 January. Kennedy Memorial with Annabel Downs. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 15: 1 February. St Catherine’s College with Tim Richardson. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Private Housing

Week 16: 15 February. Fieldend with Jan Woudstra. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 17: 22 February. Burwood Place Water Gardens with Dominic Cole and Jan Woudstra. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Private Gardens

Week 18: 8 March. Beth Chatto’s Garden with David Ward. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 19: 15 March. Denmans Garden with Barbara Simms and Gwendolyn van Paasschen. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 20: 22 March. York Gate Garden tbc. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 21: 29 March. Shute House with Kate Felus. Part of a series of 21 online lectures, £5 each, or all 21 for £84.

Week 3. 28 Sep: Stockley Park - from Landfill to Landscape

As part of a large multidisciplinary team to transform the landscape from heavily contaminated landfill into a public park, golf course and a new style business park and to deliver this at speed, Bernard Ede of Ede Griffiths Partnership, describes this as a dream project. No waste material was removed from site, and this became the biggest scale of earthwork project in Europe, adopting an innovative approach to soil construction and handling methane. In the business park, surface water was regarded as a visual and ecological asset with the creation of lakes, swales and basins. Although the ownership of the business park has changed hands several times since, Claire Watson explains how the landscape is now used and regarded by the occupiers, providing a wealth of stunning areas for relaxation, exercise and biodiversity interest. She will also say what was missing from the original brief.

Bernard Ede studied Geography at Nottingham University and landscape architecture at Newcastle University, he worked on the 50 year development plan for China Clay; with Neil Higson at MKDC, and went on to establish Bernard Ede Associates and Ede Griffiths partnership in the early 1980s. His work has involved major landscape restoration and development projects throughout UK and Europe including Greenwich Peninsula Master Plan, Brandenburg Park Berlin, and city centre regeneration, Duisburg.

With over 15 years’ experience of providing enlivenment programmes, seven of which within the property management industry, Claire Watson is the lifestyle manager for Stockley Park. Amongst other things, she is involved with the relationship between landscape and occupiers, working with the team to evolve the outdoor spaces to allow occupiers and visitors to enjoy the benefits of being outside.

Image: © Stockley Park, Bernard Ede.