This is an opportunity to get together with garden managers, head gardeners and members of the gardens teams from other organisations and estates across the UK. It’s about sharing ideas and good practice when it comes to making gardens more sustainable, and offering informal peer reviews based on the host organisation’s current projects and challenges.

The day will include

A tour of National Trust’s Dyffryn Gardens led by Chris Flynn, Head Gardener, and discussion of sustainability measures including:

• Green roofs

• Rain water harvesting for display glasshouses

• Large scale composting

• Rechargeable battery powered horticultural tools and electric charging station

• Small PV array

• Coming off oil – biomass system and air source heat pumps

• Coming off mains –borehole nearly complete

• the new woodchip biomass unit

Lunch (provided)

An afternoon session covering:

• Overview of current sustainability work and current projects from all group members

• National Trust’s environmental standards for gardens: why they were created, the politics of achieving them at Dyffryn

• Discussion on best approaches to composting systems and catering waste digestors for a property growing at pace

• Watering systems and legionella- are others incurring high costs?

• Time for other members of the group to discuss any challenges and raise questions