Tag: National Trust

New micropropagation lab is the ‘missing part of the picture’ for the National Trust’s pioneering Plant Conservation Centre

Stuart Mitchell

The National Trust has opened its first micropropagation lab, enabling the conservation charity to micropropagate its own plant material for the first time in its history. The lab is located at the Trust’s Plant Conservation Centre (PCC) in Devon, a purpose-built facility using specialist propagation skills to conserve rare and historically important plants for National Trust gardens. It has made headlines in recent years for its successful propagation of seeds gathered in the aftermath of the illegal felling of the Sycamore Gap tree in 2023. The project was made possible…

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Climate-resilient ‘Delos’ garden a century in the making officially opens at Sissinghurst Castle Garden

Stuart Mitchell

Work has finally been completed on ‘Delos’, the Greek-inspired garden at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent, realising a planting scheme first envisioned by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson more than 90 years ago. The garden, created by National Trust staff in partnership with the well-known landscape designer Dan Pearson, is the culmination of a 15-year renewal project at the world renowned, Grade I-listed garden and is now fully open for visitors to enjoy. In 1935, Vita and Harold were so inspired by a visit to the Greek island…

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Still standing tall – chalking up a new chapter for the Cerne Abbas Giant

Stuart Mitchell

Re-chalking of the Cerne Abbas Giant – Britain’s largest and most iconic chalk hill figure – is now underway. The re-chalking happens once every decade, but this time it marks not just the renewal of the Giant himself, but the beginning of a bold new chapter for the historic Dorset landscape on which he lies. At 180 feet tall, the Cerne Abbas Giant dominates the chalk hillside above Cerne Abbas, where his outline is now being carefully restored using around 17 tonnes of fresh chalk by National Trust staff, volunteers…

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Winners of Sycamore Gap commission announced following public vote, on the same day that several healthy shoots are confirmed to be growing from the stump

Stuart Mitchell

Arts charity, Helix Arts and George King Architects, (based in North Shields in the north-east and London respectively), have been announced as the winners of the Sycamore Gap wood commission, following a national public vote and final decision by an expert judging panel. Their proposal, The People’s Tree, was chosen from six shortlisted artist teams and combines public participation, sound, architecture and storytelling to respond to the loss of the much loved Sycamore Gap tree, which was illegally felled from its viewpoint above Hadrian’s wall in Northumberland, in September 2023.…

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National Trust calls on people to ask their MP to step in over nature crisis, as research reveals stark divide between Government and public attitudes

Stuart Mitchell

Europe’s biggest conservation charity has taken the rare step of asking the public, including its members, to contact their MP over the current state of nature in the UK. The National Trust is calling on people to join a campaign aimed at stopping the unravelling of nature protections and instead persuading Ministers to step up the pace to help British wildlife recover. It comes as polling for the charity by the independent research agency More in Common reveals that the Government’s lack of action to restore nature is out of…

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