We are delighted to announce that the Garden Museum Literary Festival 2022 will be held at Chatsworth, generously hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and Lord and Lady Burlington, on Thursday 23 June and Friday 24 June 2022.
This boutique annual festival is Britain’s only travelling Lit Fest, having previously visited Helmingham Hall (2021), Houghton Hall (2019), Boughton House (2017), Hatfield House (2015) and Petworth House (2014).
Each venue provides a space over one summer’s weekend for us to celebrate the best in garden writing – and to share what inspires us in gardens.
This year’s festival will include lectures by some of the UK’s most influential garden designers and authors, as well as opportunities to explore the magnificent gardens at Chatsworth.
Lunch
There are two options to choose from on each day of the event:
– Pre-order a picnic to eat in the gardens
– Pre-order a sit-down buffet lunch to be enjoyed in the tent on the South Lawn
Picnics and the sit-down lunch buffet will be prepared by Chatsworth’s in-house chefs.
Please see the picnic menus here and the sit down lunch menus here.
Festival lunches are only available by pre-ordering using these links:
Order a picnic
Book the sit down lunch buffet
There are limited spaces for the sit-down lunch buffet. We strongly recommend pre-ordering at your earliest convenience to ensure availability.
Alternatively, you are welcome to bring your own packed lunch or to eat in one of several on-site Chatsworth cafes or restaurants. Please see the Chatsworth website for restaurant booking information.
Complementary tea, coffee and a pastry will be provided upon arrival, and a bar and coffee hut will be open throughout serving drinks and snacks.
Please order your picnic or sit-down lunch buffet no later than Monday 20 June.
Speakers
Thursday 23 June
Alan Titchmarsh in conversation with the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and joined by Steve Porter, Head of Gardens & Landscape
Shane Connolly – On floral symbolism in the treasures of Chatsworth
Emily Erlam – On gardening on the edge
Luciano Giubbilei – On searching for a place to garden
David Jacques, Sash Giles and Tim Richardson – On the genius of William Kent
Mary Keen – On painting, poetry and planting
Marta McDowell – On Unearthing the Secret Garden
Justine Picardie – On Miss Dior: roses and the resistance
Mary Ann Prior – On Constance Villiers Stuart: doyenne of Indian and Spanish gardens
P. Allen Smith – Moss Mountain Farm: An American Ferme Ornée
Tom Stuart-Smith in conversation with Tim Richardson – On gardens for people: Chatsworth and the Hepworth Wakefield
Friday 24 June
Tania Compton and Hamish Bowles – On gardens and fashion
Dr Alex Hodby – On Lucien Freud
Annie Freud – On plant behaviour
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan – On English garden eccentrics
Wesley Kerr – On reflections from the gardening year
Sandra Lawrence – On Miss Wilmott’s Ghosts
Catie Marron – On Becoming a Gardener: What Reading And Digging Taught Me About Living
Dan Pearson – On writing seasonally
Jo Thompson – On wrestling with colour
Xa Tollemache & Hopwood DePree – On Helmingham Hall and Hopwood Hall
Access
The entrance, pathways, main marquee, catering areas and garden tours are all fully accessible. We will also have a buggy available on site for the use of Festival goers. Please email info@gardenmuseum.org.uk if you think that you might like to use this on the day.
One of the talk spaces is planned for the Chatsworth Theatre. This room is only accessible via three flights of stairs and, for any wheelchair users, via a manual stair climber.
Please do let us know if you have any particular access requirements, or if you have any questions or concerns, by contacting info@gardenmuseum.org.uk.