Undergraduate Student Study Tour

 

Late autumn may not seem the ideal time to set out to see the landscapes and gardens of Sussex, UK, but the undergraduates of landscape architecture and landscape and garden design and Masters of Garden Design found that there was lots to explore, discuss and wonder at even in November!

To start off we visited the ancient yew (Taxus baccata) forest of Kingley Vale and many climbed to the top of the downland to see the Bronze Age barrows and the stunning views to Chichester. Moving forward in history we heard about the first known formal garden in Britain, built by the Romans at Fishbourne. The guide gave us an insight into the built and garden environments within the landscape and historic contexts.

 

Fishbourne

The next day Sarah Swain, one of the inspirational leaders of the garden team at West Dean Garden, shared with us her experience of the practical and philosophical challenges of managing this historic landscape open to the public. We spent time in the walled garden seeing the trained fruit and the magical glasshouses and then headed out into the wider gardens and landscape.

West Dean

In the late afternoon we headed off for a complete contrast to see the contemporary sculpture collection of the CASS Sculpture Park; many amazing artworks were set within the autumnal colours of the beech (Fagus sylvatica) woodlands. Finally we headed for a traditional local pub ‘The Fox Goes Free’ to the welcome of a roaring log fire, real ale and a delicious meal.

CASS

On the last day we headed back to the University campus via Surrey which allowed us to spend the day on a fascinating tour of the eighteenth century Painshill Park Landscape Garden, with the expert volunteer guide Cherrill Sands. We had a wonderful opportunity to see the recently restored grotto and discuss the issues involved in this complex on-going conservation and restoration project. We also saw another friend of the University College for many years Dr Bill Tomlins, who has lead tours and inspired Writtle students and staff for over 25 years. Then it was back to the Design Studios …