Partner Property
Chiswick House & Gardens: Find out more about Chiswick House, or visit their website.
About the talk
Considered one of Britain’s greatest influences on European art and architecture, the English Landscape Movement has influenced gardens across the globe from Blenheim Palace to Central Park in New York. Developed by William Kent, along with his mentor and friend Lord Burlington, the English Landscape Movement broke down the rigid formality of the early 18th century garden to create something quite new: a natural landscape, developed to complement the neo-Palladian villa at its centre. Today, the House and Gardens exist in harmony, each enhancing each other’s beauty. This talk explores the origins of movement, and how the landscape we see at Chiswick today came to be.
About the speaker
As Head of Gardens and Landscape, John Watkins leads the English Heritage Garden and Landscape team in their work with historians, landscape architects, botanists and ecologists to tell the stories of the landscapes EH cares for. Over the last 22 years John has worked on a number of major garden and landscape projects, including Chiswick House and Gardens. He has also worked at Eltham Palace, Wrest Park, and Kenilworth Castle. In 1999 he led the Contemporary Heritage Gardens project, incorporating the work of six contemporary designers at English Heritage sites. He also established the Historic and Botanic Gardens Training Programme, which has been running over the last 12 years and has trained over 270 people in gardens across the UK.