Shaftesbury Abbey is delighted to welcome acclaimed garden historian, Caroline Holmes to give a richly illustrated lecture on The Medieval Garden.

Apart from contemporary prose and poetry, medieval illuminated manuscripts and tapestries are important reference sources for medieval gardens and their plants. We explore their use and evolution in the period 410–1485 – from monastic enclosure to royal hunting park and the desire for an earthly paradise both as a Christian and romantic metaphor. Discover the development of simple, monastic, self-sufficient food, medicinal and sacristan plots into elaborate ecclesiastical palace and abbey gardens, not forgetting the heavily defended castles with their survival crops and manors with walled gardens relishing the wafting scents from plantings below status rooms.

Caroline Holmes is an international lecturer, author and consultant designer. As a garden historian she researches ancient, modern and contemporary gardens, academic but not dry, informative and entertaining, her lectures explore people, plants and places delving into the myriad ways they have historically shaped their landscapes. Academic tutor and Course Director for the University of Cambridge ICE, lecturer for The Arts Society, she has spoken or researched on every continent except Antarctica. Her 12th book ‘Where the Wildness Pleases – The English Garden Celebrated’ was published in July 2021.

Tickets: £15. Friends of Shaftesbury Abbey £12.