Courses

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 2025 

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)

 Gardens are the New Galleries: Artists and their gardens. Wednesday 1 October - 3 December 10.00-12.00 online

Undocumented Pioneers: A History of Women & Gardens. Wednesday 21 January - 25 March 2026 10.00 -12.00 online

Humphry Repton & the Regency Garden Wednesday 26 November 2025 18.30 -20.30  

'Humphry Repton (1752–1818) ambitiously styled himself as Capability Brown’s successor: the century’s next great improver of landed property. Developing a new aesthetic, which he termed ‘Ornamental Gardening’, his landscapes were laced with flowers and crammed with exotic features.

This course will trace his career from its picturesque beginnings to the progressive Gardenesque style, which both made his name and changed England’s relationship with nature forever.

THE GARDEN HISTORIANS 

Early Georgian Gardens in England Thurssday 25 September  - 27 November 2025  18.00 -19.30 online

A nw course which will explore gardens in England from 1714 to 1750 and the art and artists that inspired and recorded them. Sessions will include:

• The Grand Tour – especially Italy

• Forest gardens – Bramham Park (1700-1731), Cirencester Park (1715-1740), St Paul's Walden Bury (1720-1725).

• Stephen Switzer - Ichnographia Rustica and the Ferme ornée

• Hartwell House and Balthasar Nebot

• 1st Duke of Chandos and the magnificent Canons pleasure grounds

• Studley Royal, the South Sea Bubble

• The new Arcadia and the movement towards the idyllic

• Charles Bridgeman, Lord Petre, William Kent, Alexander Pope

• The botanical (and everything else) collectors and the Empire

 Gardens on the Water’s edge: A Holiday Journey Through Italy. Friday 3 October - 31 October 18.00 - 19.00 online

Join the Garden Historians to explore Italy’s most magical waterside gardens — from the Venetian Lagoon to the Alpine lakes. No passport needed!  Click the link above to find out which gardens will be explored each week.

RHS LINDLEY LIBRARY  

 ~ None Current ~

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