Nature And Landscape

“FELLOWSHIP WITH NATURE”: THE ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL GARDEN MOVEMENT

Arboretums and botanical gardens were created in England in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as part of an environmental, educational and social movement to restore the “fellowship with nature.” In this project, we will explore the historic roots of the movement, and celebrate its environmental vision. We will work with 5 groups of young people, aged 10-18, in different parts of the Midlands. Each group will focus on a local arboretum/garden (Hammond Arboretum; Birmingham Botanical Gardens; Winterbourne House; Spetchley Gardens; Leicester Botanic Garden; Walsall Arboretum). They will develop online educational resources such as heritage trails, to raise awareness of the history and heritage of these sites, as spaces for education and science, and for reuniting the human and natural worlds. They will also explore the wider history of landscape gardens, and key figures in the movement such as Erasmus Darwin, John and Jane Loudon, and Gertrude Jekyll.