26 December 2024
It is important that we remember this date as it was when one of our former students Piers Simon was a fatality resulting from the wave that devastated the island of Phi-Phi Don in Thailand, an enormous wave…
15 November 2024
Eleanor Rawling gave this year’s John Simpson Memorial lecture last Tuesday. Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) was a local poet, born in Gloucester, was gassed in the first world war and suffered long afterwards spending much time in mental asylums….
2 November 2024
Robert Bray Associates will be running some masterclasses in Bristol in November, of particular interest to students (discounted prices): we are offering 60% discount up to 10 tickets for each masterclass. Please use the code – save60 –…
2 November 2024
Charlea Community Gardens Community Interest Company (Charlea) owns a c.3 acre site in Brimscombe Stroud consisting of two fields. One of the two fields (The Play Area field) has recently been acquired from a developer following three refused…
1 November 2024
The SKIPINNISH OAK in Lochaber, Scotland has been named UK Tree of the Year after winning a public vote against 11 other contenders. The “impressive specimen,” which is hidden away in a Skita spruce plantation at Achnacarry, supports…
6 September 2024
I recently saw a piece in a newspaper describing the Islamic gardens at the Aga Khan Centre in the new Kings Cross development, in London. Yesterday I visited both. I started at the main Visitor Centre where the…
25 July 2024
Six years ago we based the Landscape & Community module in the inner-city Gloucester suburb of Tredworth. We’d been invited to come up with some ideas to improve the visible landscape which was then looking sad and neglected…
11 July 2024
There’s a garden in Paris I’d not previously visited but always wanted to: Jardin Atlantique built above Montparnasse railway station. A couple of weeks ago I was in Paris for three days so I seized the opportunity. I…
23 May 2024
Outside the Clegg Building, the Cornus kousa is looking amazing. Here’s a picture I took two days ago (21st May). The creamy ‘leaves’ are called bracts. A bract is neither a leaf nor a flower, but it’s often…
4 May 2024
Allium ursinum, wild garlic, is a very attractive plant with its cluster of white star-like flowers and lily-of-the-valley leaves. Also called ramsons, it is in full aroma for a couple of months each year. According to Richard Mabey…