This event launches A History of English Georgic Writing (Cambridge University Press, 2022), a historical survey of the literature of rural working lives and landscapes. This important new book argues that the skilled labour of people and animals in farming communities, and the land as it is understood through that work, is one of English [...]

The 1951 Festival of Britain was a national celebration to mark Britian’s achievements and recovery following the Second World War, and was timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. In many ways this was also a coming of age for the British landscape architecture profession. On the 70th anniversary of the […]

This half-day online symposium will explore themes and sources from the Open Spaces Society collection at The MERL. The Open Spaces Society (OSS) is Britain’s oldest national conservation body, founded in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society. Join us online for short talks, discussion, poetry, and artistic responses. There will be a ‘find the location’ […]

Come and join other health, education & social care professionals to look at how nature-based interventions can be considered alongside other types of therapies for people with long-term health conditions, disabilities or mental health support needs. Free to attend, booking required. If you have any questions about the event please email rgfhwn@gmail.com Agenda 3pm – […]

DESIGNING LANDSCAPES FOR THE PEOPLE – from the Clapham omnibus to the Royal Parks This series of lunchtime talks will span the early 20c UK approach to city planning, civic design, parks and gardens, encompass the formation of the UK professional body of landscape architects, the evolving Royal Parks, the impact of corporate landscapes, and […]

State owned industries have had an enormous impact on the UK’s landscape and on UK infrastructure, but the influence of these businesses and their landscape staff has often gone unnoticed and uncelebrated – and there is much to laud and many lessons to learn. Chair: Jane Findlay, President Elect, Landscape Institute Speakers: • Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr […]

Tom Turner writes that: Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe used to say that he was educated as a classicist and then struck by the dynamic power of Modern Art. My view, with which he did not disagree, is that his approach was intrinsically Postmodern from the day he enrolled at the AA. His first serpent supports this […]

The MERL Seminars, Autumn 2019: Farm Animals For the majority of us, our image of farming would be incomplete without working animals or livestock. The role of farm animals as part of our future food systems, environmental lives, or global health often plays a part in the headlines. However, our ideas about those animals are […]

Thursday 28 November, 10am-5pm. BOOK NOW The Museum of English Rural Life Friday 29 November, 10am-5pm. BOOK NOW Harper Adams University, TF10 8NB £25 (includes refreshments and lunch). Booking essential (via Eventbrite links above). Deadline for booking is 20 November. The events will explore the revolutionary changes in poultry husbandry from the poultry mania of […]