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 >

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.

Our Autumn Lectures

Bringing Jane Austen’s Garden to Life: A Conversation with Molly Williams

Molly Williams is the author of “Jane Austen’s Garden: A Botanical Tour of the Classic Novels”. She is a PHD student, writer and houseplant hobbyist. Molly recently moved to the UK from America after being chosen for the 2025 Gates Cambridge cohort. For her PhD in English, she is researching controlled environments -glasshouses, conservatories, and container gardening ─ in nineteenth-century popular literature. Her work has taken her to archives across the U.S. and the United Kingdom, as well as various historical sites and societies, where she has explored the intersections of literature, botany, and environmental ethics.

Date: Thursday 13 November Time: 7pm

Cost: Members FREE / Guests £5.00 Venue: Great Houghton Village Hall

CHRISTMAS LECTURE (followed by drinks and Christmas nibbles)

Allotments Past and Present with an outline of ‘No-Dig Gardening’

Russell Attwood is a regular speaker for societies across the region. He has a degree in crop science and gives talks on allotments, no-dig gardening, soil improvement and weed management. He has a particular interest in pumpkins and squashes. A retired teacher, a keen gardener for 50 years, tending a large allotment for over 30 years.

Date: Thursday 11 December Time: 7pm

Cost: Members £5.00 / Guests £10.00 Venue: Great Houghton Village Hall

Walled Kitchen Gardens of Northamptonshire

Next in our series

It is planned to publish the fifth book in this series in early December 2025.

The history of Ecton Hall will cover the Hall, its owners and gardens. The information and images are drawn from a variety of sources including several private collections using some previously unpublished research and images.

Ecton Hall will be a hardback with many illustrations in black and white and colour.

Hardback A4 | Approximately 190 pages | £25

Interested?

Like the previous four books in the series, this will be a limited edition.

If you would like to purchase a copy or register your 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 >

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