The archive was set up to reflect that gardens vanish or change with their owners over time; we want to preserve for future generations the gardens that inspire us today. Our Collecting Policy compliments the holdings of the Landscape Institute, The Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Royal Horticultural Society, and we now work collaboratively with these bodies to preserve the country’s rich body of garden design material.

The collection began with the archives of notable garden and landscape designers such as Penelope Hobhouse, Beth Chatto, John Brookes, Russell Page and Janet Jack, providing a unique record of their careers, working practices and the projects they produced as well as many unrealised garden designs. The archives of writers Joy Larkcom, Alan Titchmarsh and Paul Miles, as well as photographers like Andrew Lawson, who interpreted and documented garden designers’ work soon followed. Since then our holdings have continued to grow to include horticultural suppliers Elphick’s of Lewes and William Wood & Sons, and many more fascinating collections.