Root of the matter

How are we future-proofing our historic parks and gardens - and what can we learn in terms of creating sustainable new spaces going forward?

- ASHLEY EDWARDS BARBARA SEGALL BECKY SEARLE HAFSAH HAFEJI JAMIE WALTON POLLYANNA WILKINSON

We are fortunate in the UK that there are so many historic parks and gardens to enjoy, some for free, and some where an annual membership or one-off fee gives access. During the pandemic, many became places for regular exercise and offered us time and space to be outdoors.

Whenever I can, I love to visit the National Trust-managed garden at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, especially in winter when its sheets of snowdrops lift my winter blues, and in autumn the NT’s Sheffield Park, with its lakes and colourful foliage reflections, help to ease the seasonal switch. I’m also keen to see the new Garden for the Future there, designed by Joe Perkins, encapsulating much of what our historic parks and gardens may embrace over the coming years.

But will they always be there for us to browse and wander? What might change the places we have come to treasure? Do we keep them in aspic, complete with outmoded yet colourful bedding schemes, closely mown lawns and single-species plantings, such as rose gardens, or do we rethink and come up with ways to future-proof them?