A garden history and heritage conference to mark Capability Brown’s 300th anniversary.
6-8 June 2016
Venue: Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, UK
The conference which will explore the life and business of Lancelot ‘Capability Brown’. It will be held at Hampton Court Palace, where Capability Brown lived in Wilderness House and from where he ran his prolific gardening business.
In contrast to his subsequent reputation for sweeping away formal landscape and even villages, at Hampton Court, Brown struck a balance between retaining the formal baroque gardens and the creation of a landscape of which he was extremely proud. Custodians of such historic gardens and landscapes around the world today face similar challenges, and this conference will include a discussion of the restoration and presentation of historic gardens, and ways of bringing their stories alive for today’s visitors.
Days 1 and 2 of the conference (6 and 7 June) include a special tour of the Georgian Kitchen Gardens at Hampton Court Palace, a reception, and a visit to The Empress and the Gardener exhibition. On Day 3, which is optional, we will visit Brown’s landscapes at Hampton Court, Kew Gardens, and Syon Park. Numbers on Day 3 are limited.
More information on the conference provisional programme is available below.
Conference provisional programme (PDF, 154KB)
The conference is hosted by Historic Royal Palaces and organised jointly with the Universities of East Anglia, Sheffield and York.
Admission to the conference is priced as follows:
| Full Price | Student | |
| 6th & 7th June – Lectures at Hampton Court Palace including evening reception (6th only), access to the exhibit (7th only), lunch and refreshments | £100 | £75 |
| 8th June – A tour of Brown’s landscapes in London including travel* | £50 | £25 |
*please note attendance to the third day of the conference is limited and is only available to attendees of the first two days of the conference. In order to book, please call our team on +44 (0) 203 166 6000.
