Courses include 1-day or weekend courses, short courses over a few weeks, as well as those lasting one or more academic terms. Amongst current providers are:
UNIVERSITY OF BUCKINGHAM in partnership with THE GARDENS TRUST
A new MA in Garden History started in October 2023. The next opportunity to join the course will be September 2026
The course is a research- rather than taught-degree and can be taken over 1 or 2 years.
The course is organised around a series of case study seminars looking at significant sites, which will be led by owners and professionals. These will be complemented by background lectures about the period to give a wider context. There will also be a number of day visits to other important historic gardens.
Seminars will be held at the university’s base in central London while the lectures will be online. To find out more.
UNIVERSITY OF CARDIFF PART-TIME COURSES FOR ADULTS (online)
~ none current ~
OXFORD UNIVERSITY LIFELONG LEARNING
English Landscape Gardens: 1650 to the Present Day 6 May - 17 July 2026 ONLINE
This course is the ideal introduction to English garden history. It provides an overview of five centuries of development, from Baroque formalism through the naturalistic landscape style, right up to contemporary cutting-edge planting style. The course was written by Tim Richardson, an independent garden historian and landscape critic. Tim writes regularly for newspapers and magazines, including The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times and Country Life, and is the author of nine books on garden and landscape subjects. He is a trustee of the Garden History Society and a member of the gardens advisory panel of the National Trust.
Visiting Historic Gardens: Past, Present & Future: in person weekend event 18.30 Friday 29 May - 13.45 Sunday 31 May 2026
Explore the experience of visitors in gardens then, now and in the future through talks from leading experts in researching, caring for and providing access to historic gardens.
Click the links above for full details of each course and how to book your place.
https://birkbeckgardenhistory.org.uk/garden-history-studies/lectures-talks
THE GARDENS TRUST
~ none current ~
See Lectures for details of a range of talks the Trust is currently offering.
CITY LTERARY INSTITUTE
Garden History: Italian Renaissance Gardens: Saturday 28 February 2026 from 13.00 -17.00
This half-day course will explore the historical factors and conditions that led to the creation of the Italian Renaissance Gardens in the 15th and 16th Centuries. Technical developments and design approach will be examined as well as the wider socio-economic context. The session will conclude with an assessment of the lasting impact of Italian Renaissance Gardens and our relationship with the natural environment.
City Gardens of the Blitz: Sunday 10 May 2026 from 14.00 - 16.00
This course will be delivered as a walk through areas affected by the Blitz offering the opportunity discover some of the delightful gardens of the City of London created from WWII bomb sites. The Walk will starts outside the main entrance to the Museum of London, ending at St Dunstan in the East, a short Walk from Monument and Tower Hill stations..
Garden History through London's Parks: Mondays 1 June - 29 June 2026 from 13.00 -15.00.
The 5-week course will explore Garden History through iconic London Parks, looking at how politics have influenced Garden Design and how Garden Design trends have influenced our relationship with nature. There will be one onsite session followed by guided walks in Hyde Park, Green Park, Regent’s Park and the King’s Cross Development.
CAMBRIDGE BOTANIC GARDEN
Gods in the garden: Classicism in 18th-century gardens Thursday, 1 March 2026 from 10.00 - 13.00 - in person.
'Classical trends in philosophy, art and horticulture will be explored so that you can consider eighteenth-century gardens via the historical lenses through which they were meant to be viewed.'
Imagining Arcadia: The early English landscape garden Friday 12 June 2026 18.30 - 20.00 Online.
'During the first part of the eighteenth century, the garden underwent a gradual transformation from geometric formalism to pastoral Arcadian idyll. This shift in landscaping style mirrored the political, intellectual and stylistic revolutions of the century, as authoritarianism was rejected in favour of something looser and more natural.'
The wild improvers: Price, Payne-Knight and the cult of the Picturesque Monday 14 December 2026 from 18.30 -20.30 Online
'The aesthetic category known as the Picturesque developed in the latter part of the eighteenth century.............. This lecture grapples with the paradoxes inherent in a movement which championed unbridled naturalism through the artificial lens of taste, whilst recognising the early role of the Picturesque writers in championing wilderness preservation.'
THE GARDEN HISTORIANS
Villas & Gardens of Northern Italy: Art, landscape and power around Lake Varese and Verona
Fridays, 1 May - 29 May
18.00 -19.15 online via Zoom
The course will Include the architecture, garden design, patronage, landscape politics, and preservation of villas in the area; . examining the evolution of designed landscapes in northern Italy from the Renaissance to the modern period. Through close study of terraced gardens, Baroque parterres, agrarian estates, modern curatorial landscapes, and devotional mountain environments, the course will attempt to put garden design within the broader systems of power, spirituality, economy, and heritage conservation.
From Landscape to the Picturesque: English Garden History 1780–1840
Thursdays 7 May - 9 July 2026
18.00 -19.30 online via Zoom.
1780–1840 is regarded as one of the richest transitions in British garden history, from late Capability Brown naturalism into the Picturesque, Regency refinement, and early Victorian eclecticism.
Starting with an exploration of the final flourish of the 18th-century English landscape garden, where naturalistic vistas and sweeping lawns reflected both art and social prestige, the session will examine how designers like Capability Brown shaped an idealised nature that paved the way for the Picturesque movement.
Each session will have a designated focus, ending in Week 10 with 1840: The End of an Era?. This final session will consider how the Italianate revival come back to English gardens: a move back towards formalism with the work of designers like William Andrews Nesfield with the case study of Charles Barry’s 1840 work at Trentham Gardens. This was also the year of the opening of England's first public park - Derby Arboretum..
For full details of each session and to book a place click the link above.
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, EDINBURGH
Diploma in Garden History This Diploma course is currently a blend of online learning and study days/weekends. The course consists of five units which are divided over four terms within the two-year duration of the course, If you would like to find out more and to register an interest in the next course go to RBGE Diploma
LEARNING WITH THE EXPERTS
are offering 4-week online course The History of Garden Design. Taught by Dr Toby Musgrave, this course can be taken at any time, with a choice of two available formats.
‘Ornamental gardens are complex, three-dimensional, (albeit overlooked) works of art, and ever since the first garden was made in Ancient Egypt some 4,300 ago they have acted as cultural barometers…………….’ Read more about this online course at The History of Garden Design including how to book
A separate course on offer from the same source is The Conservation of Historic Gardens. This course is taught by Dr Aubrey Gerber, a specialist in garden conservation
'Garden style is defined by a relationship between fashion and function. Influenced by politics, art and socio-economic trends, historic gardens provide us with opportunities for simple recreation or complex education from which we can learn about past cultures, horticultural techniques and patterns of life. Historic gardens are not living museums; they are enriched and challenged by change. Understanding the origin and influence of these changes, and recognising our capacity and responsibility to sensitively manage change, is the essence of conservation.
In this course Audrey will explain why conservation is relevant to you, locally and globally. You will learn how to research a site, using formal and informal sources. This will enable you to write a detailed statement of significance, which is essential to articulating why a site deserves to be conserved.
Follow the links above to learn more detials of each course.
ACS DISTANCE EDUCATION
This course explores the evolution of gardens from Roman times to the present day and how they have evolved to reflect our culture. Course content, delivered through 8 lessons, will cover garden designers, great gardens and gardeners of the world, private and public gardens, globalisation of gardens, scope and nature of modern garden conservation, the roles of organisations in garden conservation and much more.
The course is a self-paced, 100-hour course that is studied by distance learning. It can be started anytime from anywhere in the world, and will be of interest to anyone with an interest in garden history and useful to those working in fields such as Garden Design, Landscaping, Garden Renovation & Restoration, Conservation, History, working for local councils or Heritage Trusts, and staff working on the ground in parks and gardens. For a detailed description of course content and to enrol visit ACS Distance Education