DURING A PROGRAM DESIGNED
FOR INSTRUCTION AND DELIGHT, YOU WILL:
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live in a beautiful college, dine in delightful country pubs,
and enjoy experiencing the charms of Oxford.
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visit and explore eight beautiful English gardens, placing
the gardens, and their creators, in both historical and contemporary contexts.
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attend thought-provoking lectures given by expert faculty
discussing the principal historical trends in garden design and some of
the new issues raised by the latest generation of garden historians.
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study the English garden as it evolved through the Middle
Ages into the 20th Century, and how that development illustrates the timeless
process of adaptation to changing circumstances.
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consider the long-term prospects for these important symbols
of England’s cultural heritage, looking at issues of public access, conservation,
and restoration.
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attend a piano concert in the Holywell Music Room, Europe’s oldest
purpose-built concert hall, or a play in a college garden, and more. . . Return
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PROGRAM FEATURES
Participants often comment on how
much they enjoy feeling like residents, not tourists, during their week
in Oxford. The week is a lively mix of activities. You
will enjoy interactive sessions and small group discussions with the talented
and engaging faculty. You will also travel beyond the dreaming spires
of Oxford to tour spectacular gardens. There is free time to relax
in the gardens and courtyards of Trinity College and to explore the many
attractions of Oxford. You will dine “in Hall” at Trinity College
for most meals, with the college silver in use for the closing dinner as
a highlight.
Before the program begins, you will
be sent an Oxford guidebook, specially selected program materials, and
useful and comprehensive information and directions that will make it very
easy for you to get to, and enjoy your stay in, Oxford.
Join us and discover that, as a participant
wrote, “Spending a week with an extraordinary faculty in a beautiful
Oxford college studying a stimulating topic is a transcendent experience,
and downright fun.”
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This program is perfect for anyone
who enjoys travel/learning opportunities that provide intellectual stimulation
in a welcoming and congenial environment. Offering unsurpassed
value, rich content, and a long history of exceptional participant satisfaction,
this program will give you an insider’s view of the fantastic diversity and
beauty of 500 years of English garden design.
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THE SETTING - TRINITY COLLEGE
Your home for the week is Trinity
College , the most central of Oxford's colleges, where
you will live, study, and dine. Founded in 1555, Trinity is noted
for the excellence of its architecture, gardens, and food and its
pleasant atmosphere for living and learning. Among Trinity's
"old boys" (women were first admitted in 1979) are Lord Baltimore, the
Prime Ministers William Pitt and Lord North, John Henry Cardinal Newman,
and Lord Kenneth Clark.
While "up at Oxford" both faculty
and participants live "in college." Each person has a private single
bedroom with a refrigerator and a sink with hot and cold taps.
Many feature an attached sitting room. Bathrooms are shared. There
are a limited number of double occupancy suites. During your stay, the
College beer cellar, squash court, and laundry facilities are available for your
use. Return to top
Take an interactive photographic tour of Trinity College
- Virtual
Trinity
OXFORD, ENGLAND - CITY OF DREAMING SPIRES
Oxford, home to England's oldest
University and smallest cathedral, is located on the north bank of
the River Thames, fifty-six miles northwest of London. Frequent bus
connections to Heathrow and Gatwick airports and extensive bus and train
connections to London make it very easy to travel to and from Oxford. Return
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AMONG THE GARDENS WE WILL VISIT
AND STUDY ARE: (subject to change)
HIDCOTE
MANOR: One of the most inventive and influential
gardens of the 20th century, this enchanting space is in reality a series
of smaller gardens, each with its own theme, divided by yew and tapestry
hedges. An essential visit, Hidcote is famous for its rare shrubs
and trees, outstanding herbaceous borders, and unusual plant species from
all over the world. Created by the horticulturist Major Lawrence
Johnston, a keen plantsman with a strong sense of artistic composition,
you will experience his skill in using flowers, shrubs and trees to develop
his concept of the perfect garden. Everywhere glimpses of the rolling
Gloucestershire countryside add to the beauty.
ROUSHAM
HOUSE: Here is the classic
English landscape as laid out by William Kent in the 1730s. One of
the very few gardens of this period to have escaped alteration, features
that delighted eighteenth century visitors to Rousham captivate visitors
today. Kent’s genius combined contrasting elements in a single landscape:
formal and informal; new and (seemingly) old; classical and gothic; rustic
and Palladian; English and foreign. Reputed to have over 1,000 possible
garden circuits, Kent’s design leads you through a series of effects with
splendid small buildings and follies, water, statues, and vistas.
Near the house are walled gardens with lovely herbaceous borders, small
parterre, pigeon house, rose garden, and vegetable gardens. Just
next door stands the medieval parish church. Sitting so comfortably
in the English countryside, it will be a pleasure to explore this unspoiled
classical landscape garden.
UPTON
GREY: The garden of Upton
Grey, a manor house in Hampshire, offers you a chance to experience the
only fully restored Gertrude Jekyll garden in existence. An Edwardian
masterpiece, this garden was designed to provide variety and interest and
the timeless beauty of great art. There is a wild garden with flowers
and paths cut through longer grass to a pond surrounded by rocks.
There is also a formal garden with straight beds and paths, terraces and
yew hedges. A pergola leads from the house to a rose garden.
Elsewhere there is cottage garden planting, bowling and tennis lawns, a
walled kitchen garden and an orchard. Not normally open to the
public, this garden is a living museum of Gertrude Jekyll plants and design
and one you will not soon forget. Return
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PAINSWICK
ROCOCO GARDEN: Situated outside a beautiful
Cotswold village, and set in a hidden valley with magnificent views over
the surrounding countryside, this gem of a garden is a rare example of
the flamboyant 18th-century English Rococo period. Here, in one dramatic
package, long vistas and geometric patterns combine with informal paths,
inviting garden buildings, herbaceous borders, kitchen garden, and ponds.
Winding woodland paths reveal sudden vistas and a marvelous grove offers
a tranquil spot to rest. This impact of Painswick’s striking mix of formality
and informality will make this an enchanting and unforgettable experience.
CLIVEDEN:
Long visited by distinguished guests, including Queen Victoria, Winston
Churchill, and Henry James, and family home of Nancy, Lady Astor, charismatic
American socialite and the first woman MP in the British parliament, Cliveden
offers both history and beauty in abundance. To delight the visitor,
extensive grounds and formal gardens, with terrace and parterre, offer
colorful borders, roses, topiary, statuary, a tranquil water garden with
pagoda and exotic maples, a ‘secret’ rose garden, a sequestered Italian
garden, and beautiful formal lawns lined with geometric planting.
Miles of woodland walks present informal vistas and breathtaking views
of the River Thames.
OXFORD
BOTANIC GARDEN: Sitting
serenely on the banks of the River Cherwell, in the center of Oxford, this
classic seventeenth century walled garden is the oldest botanic garden
in Britain. From its founding in 1621, it has evolved from a modest
collection of medicinal herbs to the most compact yet diverse collection
of plants in the world. Inside the walled garden the extensive plant
collection is grouped in a number of interesting ways, including by country
of origin, botanic family, and economic use. A range of glasshouses
includes a Tropical Lily House, Palm House and Arid House. Beyond
the walled garden you will find classic features such as a water garden,
the bog garden, and various herbaceous borders. With its long history,
architectural charm, bucolic setting, and wealth of plantings this is a
garden you will long remember.
RODMARTON
MANOR: This beautifully kept garden shows
you the English Arts and Crafts movement at its best. Designed in
1909, Rodmarton garden was laid out as a series of outdoor rooms, each
with its own character, with its famous dry stone walls and hedges of holly,
box, beech, and yew forming the "walls" of the rooms. Impeccable
tapestry hedges complement a variety of gardens, including the sunken garden,
trough garden, and wild garden. Near the house stands a winter garden
and a large working kitchen garden contains a variety of plants both culinary
and ornamental. All of this, combined with the terrace and topiary,
superb woodland hornbeam avenue, and the garden’s many attractive vistas
makes this a visit that will inspire your spirit of romance and excitement.
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THE PROGRAM FACULTY INCLUDES
Peter Hatch, Director of Gardens and Grounds at
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and author of The Fruits and Fruit Trees
of Monticello: Thomas Jefferson and the Origins of American Horticulture
and The Gardens of Monticello
Robert Machin, M.A., formerly Senior Lecturer at
the University of Bristol, Department for Continuing Education.
Program Directors: Tom
Dowd (Senior Director of Program Development, University of Virginia
School of Continuing and Professional Studies) and Christopher
Day (University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education). Return
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PROGRAM SCHEDULE(subject
to change)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17
10:00 am - Noon: Check-In
12:30 pm: Lunch
1:45 pm: Session 1: Program Introduction & Orientation
2:45 pm: Session 2: Main Themes of the Week
4:15 pm: Session 3: Tour Trinity College Gardens
5:45 pm: Free Time
7:30 pm: Opening Reception & Dinner
MONDAY, AUGUST 18
7:30 am: Breakfast
9:00 am: Session 4: English Garden Design: 16th-19th
Centuries
11:00 am: Session 5: English Garden Design: 19th-20th
Centuries
12:30 pm: Lunch
1:30 pm: Free Time
3:30 pm: Session 6: Guided Tour: Oxford Botanic Garden
6:45 pm: Session 7: General Introduction to Oxford
8:00 pm: Dinner
Free Evening
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 19
7:00 am: Breakfast
8:30 am: Depart for Day of Garden Tours
10:30 am: Session 8: Tour Upton Grey Gardens
12:45 pm: Pub Lunch
3:00 pm: Session 9: Tour Cliveden Gardens
6:45 pm: Arrive in Oxford, Free Time
8:00 pm: Dinner
Free Evening
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20
7:30 am: Breakfast
9:00 am: Session 10: Rousham and the English Landscape
Garden
10:30 am: Session 11: Tour Rousham Garden and
Grounds
12:45 pm: Pub Lunch
3:15 pm: Session 12: Tour Hidcote Manor Garden
6:15 pm: Dinner in Oxford
8:00 pm: Jack Gibbons Piano Concert or College Play
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 21
7:00 am: Breakfast
8:30 am: Depart for Day of Garden Tours
10:30 am: Session 13: Tour Painswick Rococo Garden
1:00 pm: Pub Lunch
2:45 pm: Session 14: Tour Rodmarton Manor Garden
6:30 pm: Arrive in Oxford, Free Time
8:00 pm: Dinner
Free Evening
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22
7:30 am: Breakfast
9:00 am: Session 15: The 18th Century “Great Exchange”
in Plants
11:00 am: Session 16: Errors & Omissions: Recent
Critiques of Traditional Garden History
12:30 pm: Lunch
Free Afternoon or optional tours
7:00 pm: Closing Reception and Dinner
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 23
8:00 am: Breakfast
Enjoy a leisurely morning. Check out time is 10:00
am.
To be added to our mailing
list please send your mailing address to
travelandlearn@virginia.edu
or call us at 800-346-3882 or 1-434-982-5252.
