London Parks & Gardens - Bulletin - December 2024

 

Dear , Seasons Greetings! December has arrived and what better present to give than a LOG 2025 ticket. Book now to secure your stocking filler at a special pre-Christmas price.    In further exciting news, our final lecture of the year, 'Rewilding Arcadia’: 21st-century solutions to manage increasing flood risk along the river Thames' takes place online on Monday 9 December at 6pm. Online lecture tickets cost £8 each. In this month's edition (fast click for more details below): Winter Lecture Series - just days left before our final 2024 lecture on 'Rewilding Arcadia’ exploring flood risk and the Thames. London Open Gardens 2025 - catch our LOG 2025 pre-Christmas savings. New Inventory Themes - explore the Research Group's guide to Architectural Ruins.  Autumn Photo Competition - thank you for your submissions.

Winter Lecture Series

Our final lecture of 2024 is 'Rewilding Arcadia’: 21st-century solutions to manage increasing flood risk along the river Thames by Jason Debney. A timely talk given the recent devastating floods in Spain. Unprecedented rainfall overcame flood defences killing more than two-hundred people. Jason is the Coordinator of the Thames Landscape Strategy, a not-for-profit partnership to conserve and enhance the remarkable Arcadian Thames between Weybridge and Kew. Jason has raised £23m for works on the ground much of which has been delivered through local volunteer action. Transforming urban green space and adding permeable surfaces where there was previously concrete or tarmac all helps create what is now commonly referred to as a sponge city. Can London become the ultimate sponge city, and should we care more about sustainable urban drainage [SUDs]? Join Jason online at 6pm on Monday 6th of December to find out more about Rewilding Arcadia.

Book Now

LPG is giving those who cannot make the live lecture a chance to submit questions for Jason in advance using the submission form below:

Submit A Question

London Open Gardens 2025

Give the gift of gardens

Charterhouse Square Gardens Photographer: Candy Blackham

Snap up our tree-mendous pre-Christmas ticket discount for London Open Gardens Festival and save 30% on tickets.    That’s £17 for two days of exploring the city’s most exciting secret gardens on the weekend of 7th & 8th June 2025.    Ticket offer ends midnight on Christmas Eve, don’t leaf it too late!    LOG tickets make the ideal festive gift or stocking filler.

Buy Now

An Inventory Guide to Architectural Ruins In London

Our Research Group have been working hard to build thematic content on our Inventory. This month, we explore many of London's parks and gardens that had a previous existence as something else. Ruins testify to that existence - as well as being romantic features of today's parks.

Explore New Inventory Themes

Autumn Photo Competition

And the winner is...

Wimbledon in Autumn - Andrew Wilson

Thank you for all your submissions to our Autumn Photo Competition. The office team have loved seeing the variety of images capturing the beauty of Autumn across London's parks and gardens. We have now selected our winner who has received 2x free adult tickets to the Fulham Palace Festival.

London Parks & Gardens - Bulletin - November 2023

 

From the Inventory this month...  When the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham Hill in 1852 after the Great Exhibition, pleasure grounds - now known as Crystal Palace Park - were laid out to surround it. Trees and lakes from the original layout survive, and visitors can also still enjoy the iconic Crystal Palace Dinosaurs! Photo by Colin Wing  Find out more about Crystal Palace Park in our Inventory, where you can browse 2,500 fascinating sites across the capital. Dear , Our Winter Lecture Series is in full swing with November's lecture now fully booked! Book now for December and January's online talks, and for February and March where we will be delighted to welcome you either online or in person at our Sloane Square venue. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets for our Autumn Raffle - congratulations to those who won a prize! All funds raised in our raffle and through the sale of lecture tickets and London Open Gardens tickets help us continue our vital work to protect London's green spaces for everyone to enjoy.  In this month's edition: Winter Lecture Series - tickets for December's online lecture are selling fast! Planning Round Up - our latest conservation work  London Open Gardens - discounted tickets on sale soon in our pre-Christmas offer  Join Us - become a member, purchase a gift membership or volunteer with us Please do send us seasonal photos of your favourite London green spaces - we will feature a selection on our website and social media.  Winter Lecture Series This year's Winter Lecture Series is well underway; the November lecture is fully booked, and tickets for December are selling fast! Book now to join researcher Lisa White online on 11 December and learn about the early life of Alexander McKenzie, the 19th Century horticulturist and landscape designer, who grew up in the woods and vales surrounding the Scottish seaside town of Nairn. Photo courtesy of RHS Lindley Library Lecture Series Information and Booking All our talks are delivered live online at 6pm. Those in February and March will also be delivered in person, so if you prefer to join us at our London venue we would be delighted to see you (visit our website for the full programme). Our warmest thanks to Francis Holland School, Sloane Square, for hosting these live lectures.  Planning Updates LPG received 22 planning cases in October, spanning 11 London Boroughs. Work included: responding to an application to install cycling infrastructure throughout the Golden Lane Estate to ensure consideration of the impact on the layout of the Grade II listed site, including the carefully planned spaces between buildings;  responding to an application for the use of the courtyard garden in Dolphin Square for corporate hospitality events, suggesting measures to minimise  damage incurred to the gardens; providing strategic advice to the Gardens Trust regarding an application to instal 12 floodlights at Kingston Grammar School sports field, in close proximity to Hampton Court Palace's Grade I listed park and garden. Geoffry Powell’s competition winning scheme for Golden Lane Estate (London Metropolitan Archives) London Open Gardens: 8-9 June 2024 Tickets to London Open Gardens 2024 will be on sale soon, with a special pre-Christmas sale.  Join us for our 25th year enjoying London's gardens and green spaces. Adult tickets booked before Christmas will come at a discounted price, and make a great Christmas present for family and friends.  Visit our website to buy tickets once they're on sale, and follow us on social media for the latest updates. Warwick Square, pictured at LOG 2023 (photo by Amund Hugin)

London Parks & Gardens - No.10 Downing Street is joining London Open Gardens for 2023!

 

10 Downing Street joins over 100 gardens opening gates for LOG 2023 We're thrilled to finally reveal that 10 Downing Street will join over 100 unique places not normally open to the public taking part in London Open Gardens weekend on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June this year. Keep your eyes peeled for further details on how to enter the ballot - you could be one of the lucky visitors that gets the chance to wander around the garden of the Prime Minister's official home. Expert gardeners will be on hand to answer questions about the half acre site and its features, which include rose beds and a bronze sculpture by Barbara Hepworth. The ballot will open to the general public on Thursday 16 March, so please look out for further communications from London Parks & Gardens next week. If you know somebody who would be interested in knowing when the ballot opens, why not encourage them to sign up to our free mailing list or become a member today? Find out more about London Open Gardens 2023