The Trust organises a full programme of events. Lectures are held during the winter months. In the spring and summer there are outings to gardens, some of which are not normally open to the public.

SURREY GARDENS TRUST AGM & CHRISTMAS PARTY
Friday 7 December 2007
Our AGM is an important annual meeting which gives members the opportunity to learn what the Trust has been doing during the year. The AGM will be followed by a lecture entitled The University of Oxford Botanic Garden ‚ the First 386 Years by Timothy Walker, Director of the Garden.

2008 Winter Lectures

Saturday 12 January
Italian Villas and Gardens by Maggie Lamb. Maggie is a keen gardener, photographer, traveller and presenter. She will take us to visit ten wonderful villas and gardens in two contrasting regions of Italy, the mountains and northern lakes of Maggiore and Como and the rich and fertile region of Tuscany. Interesting for both the plants and the garden history, the beauty of the Italian gardens will take your breath away.

Saturday 16 February
Floral Glories by Mary Bennett, Assistant Curator at Surrey Heath Museum. Mary has talked to most of the remaining nurserymen – working and retired – in Surrey Heath, and her lecture will cover both the history of that trade and the men who worked in it. She will discuss the influence on the area of the famous Surrey plantsmen, Sir Joseph Hooker and Graham Stuart Thomas, and of those who worked in the gardens of the large estates in Surrey Heath.

Saturday 8 March
Peascods and Roses: Mediaeval Gardens and Gardening by Angela Montford, originally from Surrey but now resident in Scotland where she is a visiting lecturer in Fife and Tayside with a PhD in mediaeval history. Her talk will explore the development of gardens in the Middle Ages and their place in mediaeval society, covering the garden’s contribution to food production, health and the culture of the day, and the different styles to be found in town and country, religious house and domestic dwelling.

2008 Summer Visits

Saturday 17 May
Morning lecture at Haslemere Museum by Robert McBride of the Woodland Trust on 'A Journey through the European Rain Forest'.  Afternoon visit to Old Manor Farm, Roundhurst, for those attending lecture only.

Tuesday 20 May
Early evening visit with refreshments to Sedgwick Park House, Horsham, set amidst 100 acres of parkland, meadows and woodland.  The formal gardens were landscaped by Harold Peto and feature interlocking cascades, pools and water garden.  There are views from the stone terraces, a rose walk and herbaceous borders.  The visit includes the ground floor of the house and the castle site (ruin).

Thursday 12 June
Morning visit to Tilford Cottage, Tilford.  ‘An artist’s garden with a surprise at every turn’, it includes wildflower, bog and herb gardens, a Victorian glasshouse, Monet-style bridge, river walk and Mediterranean terrace.  The owner will lead a tour of the garden.  Afternoon at Hatch Hill House, Hindhead, where the formal garden was designed in 2004 by Arabella Lennox-Boyd with shrub borders, two terraces, a rose garden, yew maze and small avenue of pleached limes.

Wednesday 16 July
Coach trip to Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire.  In the morning we will have a guided tour by Martin Towsey, Gardens manager for the Bedford Estates, of the Woburn Abbey gardens which include a grotto, Chinese-style dairy and restored camellia house.  In the afternoon there will be time for a self-guided tour of Woburn Abbey House which has impressive collections of art, furniture and porcelain.

DETAILS OF EVENTS LATER IN THE YEAR WILL BE ADVISED IN DUE COURSE