What is Horticultural Heritage?

The Covid pandemic raised awareness of the importance of green spaces for physical and emotional wellbeing.  More than ever before, heritage sites and museums are investing in their green spaces and using them to tell stories, engage people with nature and promote biodiversity.  This symposium will explore the challenges and opportunities that heritage sites face in integrating the indoor and the outdoor.  Winterbourne is the ideal setting to debate these issues. Originally a family home, it is now a university botanic garden with a substantial living collection, and an Arts Council accredited museum.

Who should attend? 

Professionals, free-lancers and volunteers working in heritage and/or horticulture;  UG and PG students of heritage and/or horticulture;  researchers and academics                               

The programme will include six short presentations on a range of exciting projects, and time for group discussion, feedback and networking. An optional tour of Winterbourne’s garden will follow the close of the symposium. 

Refreshments and a picnic lunch are included.

Speakers:

• Lee Hale, Director of Winterbourne
• Henrietta Lockhart, Curator, Winterbourne
• Pam Smith, Senior National Consultant for Gardens and Parklands, National Trust
• Nadia Awal & Clare Weston, Interpretation & Research Team, Black Country Living Museum
• Phil Broomfield, Volunteer, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
• Zara Matthews, Museum Director, Panacea Charitable Trust
• Lucy Pitman, Plant Conservation Officer, Plant Heritage
• Kate Nicoll, Workshop Co-ordinator, Craft Skills for Garden Conservation

This symposium is organised by Winterbourne House and Garden in partnership with the International Centre for Heritage, University of Birmingham and funded by the Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures, University of Birmingham.