Events & Training Archive - Walled Kitchen Gardens Network

Forum 2018 Mount Stewart Estate in Ireland

The Walled Kitchen Garden Network’s Forum this year was held, for the first time in Northern Ireland, on the 13th and 14th of October. We were based at Clandeboye near Belfast, which was close to our main destination, the beautiful Mount Stewart Estate. Mount Stewart does not have large enough conference facilities whereas Clandeboye could easily accommodate us. Situated on the peninsula between the Irish Sea and Strangford Loch, Mount Stewart enjoys a unique microclimate enabling many Southern Hemisphere plants to thrive. From the NT’s website; AN EXCITING CHALLENGE. The garden team have high hopes for the walled garden. Plans include replanting the rose garden, restoring the dairy, crafting… Read more »

FORUM 2017 .. Glasshouses

FORUM 2016 . .Community Gardening

3rd & 4th October

Forum 2015

Croome, Worcestershire

Forum 2015 was held at Croome Court. The lectures were held in the newly restored Long Room with lunch and garden tours in Chris and Karin Cronin’s lovely adjoining walled garden.

Forum 2014

FORUM 2014 There was no forum in 2014

5th October 2013

Forum 2013

Attingham Park

FORUM 2013 OCTOBER 5TH ATTINGHAM PARK, SHROPSHIRE The forum 2013 was held at Attingham Park in Shropshire on the 5th October 2013. Attingham is a National Trust property, where there is a large walled garden (just under two acres) and a smaller frame-yard with working glasshouses, back-sheds and bothy. This is an on-going restoration project, which has so far brought three of the quarters of the garden back into full productivity

6th and 7th October

Forum 2012

Helmingham Hall

WKGN FORUM 2012. 6th & 7th OCTOBER AT HELMINGHAM HALL, SUFFOLK The weekend Forum in Suffolk was a great success. The talks took place at Helmingham Hall on the Saturday, followed by garden visits the following day. Once again we were blessed by wonderful weather.

Forum 2011

Theme: Publicly owned walled kitchen gardens Sixty delegates and speakers from the length and breadth of the country, and offshore islands, were welcomed to the 2011 Forum by Susan Campbell and Fiona Grant, founders of WKGN, on what turned out to be the hottest October day on record. The speakers represented a range of different projects taking place in walled kitchen gardens owned by local authorities John Isaacs was once a head master, a role that now stands him in good stead for his current position as Chair of the Insole Court Community Garden Group. Insole Court was once an extensive mansion built by James Harvey Insole, from wealth… Read more »

24th & 25th September

Forum 2010

Scottish Borders

Image above taken in the garden at Mertoun. This year we have chosen to have our annual Forum in the Scottish Borders. We feel that a visit is long overdue; the region is renowned for its wealth of fine walled kitchen gardens and for the skill of its gardeners, as well as for many splendid varieties of fruit and vegetables which, as their names reveal, have been raised north of the border. The area is also rich in glasshouses (in various states of repair), most of them having been made by one of Scotland’s most prolific and prestigious manufacturers, Mackenzie and Moncur of Edinburgh. The Forum will take place over… Read more »

16th October 2009

Forum 2009

Hampton Court Palace

THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE. Our first venture at making links with productive walled gardens in Europe was a great success, with over 100 delegates, and an excellent range of speakers from Belgium, France, Germany, and the UK. Outside the Palace A group of delegates in the Privy Garden Two of the speakers were Herman van den Bossch who spoke on‘The Museum Garden at Castle Gaasbeek: the making and keeping of a living laboratory’ and Dr. Kristin Püttmann, who spoke on ‘A Little Bit of Britain – two late 18th century walled kitchen gardens in Northern Germany’