The Tour will cover pottery and porcelain in relation to gardening and flower arranging, and to the passion for botanical and other floral decoration which developed during the 17th to early 19th centuries. In this context, we will look at a selection from the Fitzwilliam collections ranging from Isnik ware, English delft tulip chargers, slipware dishes with tulip borders, flower vases for tulips and other plants of the 17C, before moving on to Sèvres Rococo floral decoration, jardinières and pot-pourris. There is botanical decoration on Chelsea and the Trelissick dessert service, contrasting with the pretty and colourful floral decoration on creamware and other pottery, such as Japanese chrysanthemum decoration on Worcester. Modelled flowers and foliage decorate vases, bowls, knobs and handles, and is found on figures. We will see items to illustrate each topic and some will be available to be handled.

Our Guide: Julia Poole joined the Fitzwilliam as Assistant Keeper of Applied Art. She was awarded a Cambridge PhD in 1995 for her catalogue of the Fitzwilliam’s collection of Italian maiolica, and was promoted to Keeper of Applied Art in 2004. She has wide-ranging interests in European ceramics, their sale, use, and collecting. More recently, she has been working on a catalogue of the Fitzwilliam’s Limoges painted enamels from the Renaissance and later, as well as researching the history of two 18C manuscript recipe books belonging to Norfolk women.

Joining details: Please meet in the Courtyard entrance at 10:45am. The first group will start the tour promptly at 11:00am. A second group will tour at 12:15pm. The maximum number for each tour is 15, so please book early to avoid disappointment.

Getting there: the Fitzwilliam address is Trumpington Street CB2 1RB. Limited Pay and Display and disabled badge-holder parking is available on Trumpington Street. The nearest car parks are at Grand Arcade, off Downing Street, and Queen Anne, Gonville Place. For Park & Ride information, please check this webpage. For more parking options, see also further information on parking provided by Cambridge City Council.

Bookings: preferably by BACS transfer of £12 (£14 for non-member guests) to Cambridgeshire County Garden Trust (sort code 20-29-68, account number 30347639) using your name as reference. Cheques, payable to Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust, may be sent to Jane Sills, The Willows, Ramsey Road, Ramsey Forty Foot PE26 2XN.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Title A Garden Historian’s Paradise: Menton and the Riviera.

Abstract Since the Victorian era, Menton with its unique climate, has attracted artists, plant collectors, and garden designers. Many of their gardens survive, whilst others are currently being restored. This talk will explore a range of gardens and landscapes from the extraordinary designs of the Rothschilds at Ephrussi, the riches of the botanic gardens at Val Rahmah and Hanbury (across the border in Italy), and the re-awakening of Serre de la Madone, ‘sister’ garden to Hidcote Manor. We will also take a glimpse at the historic hotel gardens that catered for the elite in the season.

Our Speaker Twigs Way is a garden historian, writer and researcher. Twigs is fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds. Her talks and books reflect that endless curiosity with themes of symbolism and meaning, class and gender, art and literature… and her desire to follow unknown paths towards the unexpected. From gnomes in Neasden to hollyhocks from the Holy Land, every plant has a tale to tell, every garden a past. Twigs is an accredited Arts Society lecturer and her history of the Chrysanthemum in art and culture was published by Reaktion in 2020. She is currently working on the equally golden daffodil.

Location On-line: Zoom joining details will be provided to all who have booked places.

Bookings To reserve your place, please send £4 by BACS to the CGT account (sort code 20-29-68, account number 30347639), using your name as reference, and confirm by email to admin. The deadline for bookings will be at 12:00noon on Wednesday 18 January and joining details will be sent shortly after.

Title The Society of Dilettanti: bacchanalian antics and building the Antique.

Abstract The Grand Tour with its ancient ruins and sun-drenched landscapes became an educational rite of passage for the classically trained. This lively lecture considers how the Society of Dilettanti – an eighteenth-century gentleman’s club – embodied their motto of ‘Grecian taste and Roman Spirit’ in both the literal sense of worshiping Dionysus and Bacchus through heavy drinking, as well as by the scholarly promotion of antiquity. As travellers and gardeners, their famous publications exerted a profound influence on the Georgian landscape garden. Glass of seasonal cheer optional.

Our Speaker Dr Laura Mayer is an independent lecturer and researcher, with an MA in Garden History and a PhD in eighteenth-century patronage from the University of Bristol. She has published extensively, particularly on Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry Repton. In 2013 she co-wrote The Historic Gardens of England: Cambridgeshire & the Isle of Ely with Professor Tim Mowl, having gone to sixth-form in the county. Laura currently works as a consultant for the National Trust and Land & Heritage, researching and writing Conservation Management Plans.

Location Hemingford Abbots Village Hall, High Street, Hemingford Abbots PE28 9AH. There is ample parking available at the hall.

Bookings This Christmas Lecture is open to members of Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust and guests. Seasonal refreshments will be available. Members £12; guests £15. For catering, please email admin by 3 December and preferably pay by BACS (Cambridgeshire County Garden Trust; sort code 20-29-68, account number 30347639, using your name as reference), or at the door.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Diana Boston and the CGT Council of Management warmly invite members and their guests to an informal summer’s evening, bring-your-own picnic in the lovely grounds of Diana’s home at Hemingford Grey Manor. The house was built in the 1130’s and is one of the oldest private houses in the country. Some rooms will be open for guests to explore. The gardens feature a moat, topiary, old roses, award-wining irises and herbaceous borders. Off-street parking will be available, and a map can be found here. Do bring a picnic to enjoy with friends in the grounds from 5:30pm-8:30pm.

Getting there: The address is The Manor, Hemingford Grey, Huntingdon PE28 9BN.

From Huntingdon: exit A1307 left at junction 25, follow New Road to T-junction with High Street; turn right and look for CGT parking in field on left at sharp right bend.

From Cambridge: exit A1307 left at junction 25 and cross dual carriageway, follow Rideaway to junction with Royal Oak Lane; turn right and follow to T-junction with High Street; turn right and look for CGT parking in field on left at sharp right bend.

From the parking field: please follow the riverside footpath to The Manor gateway.

A map and directions can be found here.

Bookings: preferably by BACS transfer to Cambridgeshire County Garden Trust (sort code 20-29-68, account number 30347639) using your name as reference. Cheques, payable to Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust, may be sent to Jane Sills, The Willows, Ramsey Road, Ramsey Forty Foot PE26 2XN.

As described by Alison Moller in her recent Study Day talk, Easton Lodge garden is a quintessential example of Harold Peto’s landscaping style, created for Frances Evelyn ‘Daisy’ Maynard who inherited the estate at the age of three and went on to marry Lord Brooke, becoming the leading socialite of her generation. From 1902, Harold Peto fashioned his largest Japanese garden, a sunken Italian garden with a 100-ft, balustraded lily pond, French pergolas, formal lawns, a tree glade and a (now-restored) tree house. Sadly, the house and estate all suffered decline and damage during the war years but, since 1971, a process of gradual restoration has been under way to recapture the former glory of the gardens. There is a well-stocked walled kitchen garden, ten champion trees and a stumpery. The day will begin promptly at 11:00am and the entry will include refreshments and a guided tour, including the history of the garden and a visit to the archive room. Entry £8.50 for members and guests.

Getting there: the address is Easton Lodge, Little Easton, Dunmow CM6 2BB. There is a helpful map and directions (download from here) on reaching the garden from Junction 8 of the M11, along the A120.

Bookings: preferably by BACS transfer of £8:50 to Cambridgeshire County Garden Trust (sort code 20-29-68, account number 30347639) using your name as reference. Cheques, payable to Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust, may be sent to Jane Sills, The Willows, Ramsey Road, Ramsey Forty Foot PE26 2XN.

Titchmarsh House Gardens have grown over the years from a garden of about 1 acre in 1972 to its present size of about 4.5 acres. There are special collections of spring bulbs, magnolias, cherries, crab apples, irises, peonies and roses with many unusual trees and shrubs including rare buddleias, philadelphus, deutzias and abelias. Flowering starts in February and continues to the end of June. The grounds include a walled ornamental vegetable garden and an ancient yew hedge. The kitchen garden has box hedge-bordered paths incorporating collections of peonies and over fifty varieties of irises which flower from mid-April, through May and into early June. The owners have planted the majority of the trees and seen several of them reach maturity, while still retaining sight-lines to the village church and that in Aldwincle.

Finding the garden: The full address is Titchmarsh House, Chapel Street, Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire NN14 3DA. If arriving via the A14: exit at junction 14 (right turn across the dual carriageway); after 1.2 miles, turn left onto High Street; at the Wheatsheaf pub, turn right onto North Street; after 120 yds, turn left onto Chapel Street. To avoid the right turn at J14: continue west on the A14 to J13 roundabout, taking 4th exit signed A605; pass two roundabouts remaining on the A605; turn right onto Church Street and finally left onto Chapel Street.

Bookings: preferably by BACS transfer of £10 to Cambridgeshire County Garden Trust (sort code 20-29-68, account number 30347639) using your name as reference. Cheques, payable to Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust, may be sent to Jane Sills, The Willows, Ramsey Road, Ramsey Forty Foot PE26 2XN.