Introducing our new ‘Living Landscapes’ public talk series

We are delighted to launch a new ‘Living Landscapes’ series of public talks at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU). The talks will cover a broad range of topics including history, environment, food and land use and take place at the Alliston Centre on the RAU campus.

The series will launch on 14 May 2026 with a talk by Timothy Mowl titled ‘A prettyish kind of a little wilderness’ – Landscapes and gardens in the novels of Jane Austen.

The talk will consider designed landscapes and gardens in Jane Austen’s novels, not only as representative of current horticultural fads in Regency England, but as important elements in her plots, providing the background to moments of high emotional drama. Her life spans the demise of Capability Brown’s minimalist landscaping (died 1783), the growth of Picturesque theory in the late 1780s and 1790s, which Austen satirises in Northanger Abbey, and the coming of Humphry Repton, who appears in Mansfield Park, with his promotion of Ornamental Gardening. At the heart of the novels and of this talk are the shrubberies, sweet-scented, shadowy places for exercise, contemplation and, above all, romantic assignations.

Timothy Mowl is Honorary Professor in the Cultural Heritage Institute at the RAU and Emeritus Professor in the History of Architecture and Designed Landscapes at the University of Bristol, where he taught for over 20 years. He is the author of 35 books on conservation, architectural, garden and landscape history. His latest book, All Around is Fairy Ground – Pleasure and the Regency Garden – will be published in July 2026. It includes a chapter on Jane Austen and gardens, which has been the inspiration for his talk.

For more information and to book our first talk, please visit our Events page here.