Northamptonshire

Gardens Trust

Caring for the County’s parks, gardens and designed landscapes

Welcome to Northamptonshire Gardens Trust …

… a registered charity passionate about protecting and conserving our county’s historic parks, gardens and designed landscapes.

We are an enthusiastic group of volunteers who work in partnership to raise public awareness and appreciation of our enviable landscape heritage – from the recognised treasures and curiosities, to the less well-known surprises waiting to delight. Thoughtful conservation today can ensure a richer, biodiverse environment for future generations.

We hope you will enjoy the opportunity of discovery through our website. If you are interested in being part of a welcoming group of people passionate about making a difference and having fun – JOIN US >

Our next lecture

Photo © Dominic Mitchell

A Year of Fungi and Wild Mushrooms

Date: 26 March 2026

Time: 7.00 pm

Venue: Great Houghton Village Hall

Justin Long is a fungus fanatic, and has been studying and photographing wild fungi for around 25 years. His photographs appear in books, magazines, journals and websites. He shares his mycology expertise and love of fungi through talks on varied aspects of the fascinating fungal kingdom and leading mushroom walks, explaining how to identify wild mushrooms and understand their role in nature. In particular the complex mycorrhizal relationship between plants and fungi in gardens as well as woodland. He is an active member of the Buckinghamshire Fungus Group sharing his passion for fungi with experts in this field.

Dates for your diary

Make a note of our lectures and garden visits planned for spring and summer 2026 >>>

Object 74: Copper metal tree label affixed to trees planted in the grounds of Ecton Hall

A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects

A History of Northamptonshire in 100 objects exhibition is now open at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Guildhall Road, Northampton and runs until February 2026 so do try to get along there to enjoy it.

It is an excellent exhibition and displays objects that are not normally on public view.

NGT member Elizabeth Taylor is a guest curator for the exhibition and put forward a tree plaque from Ecton Hall which was kindly donated by another of our members, David Banner.

Podcasts

A podcast has been recorded giving the background to the tree plaque and this is now available on YouTube.

You can also hear the podcasts for all the other items in the exhibition on YouTube.

Website

If you are unable to visit the museum details of the tree plaque and all the other exhibits are available on the exhibition website.

Walled Kitchen Gardens of Northamptonshire

NEXT in our series

Published DECEMBER 2025

Ecton Hall

A social architectural and landscape history

By Elizabeth Taylor

ECTON HALL describes the history of the Grade II listed property and its owners from the sixteenth century to the present day. It includes the 18th and 19th century alterations to the house, with interior photographs from before and after the house fell into ruin; also included are the historic gardens, parkland, and the gardeners.

This is the latest publication from the Northamptonshire Gardens Trust on the country houses and gardens of the county and is the fifth in the series which includes Finedon Hall & Vicarage, Sulby Hall, Loddington Hall, and Rushton Hall.

£25 | LIMITED EDITION | A4 hardback book | 190 pages fully illustrated with prints, maps and photographs in colour and black & white

An ideal present!

Interested?

If you would like to purchase a copy interest, please email elizabeth.taylor6@btinternet.com

Planting a tree with the help of Capability Brown

For a flavour of what we do …

Why not watch our video of Capability Brown's work at Castle Ashby.

Financed by Heritage Lottery funding as part of the Capability Brown Festival 2016, this film was inspired by Alan Titchmarsh in the television series entitled Titchmarsh on Capability Brown (Channel 4 2015) where he celebrates the 300th anniversary of his horticultural hero by helping to create one of Brown’s lost masterpieces at Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire. The final programme of three showed him standing at Belvoir Castle accompanied by the Duchess of Rutland with a lap top in hand viewing drone footage of the landscape.

For more about this great landscape gardener, see Capability Brown >

Contact us ...

Please contact us if you would like more information about our Trust or if you have any queries.

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