This pruning roses workshop will cover the theory and practices of pruning shrub, climbing, and rambling roses. The workshop will discuss several pruning scenarios including when and how to prune. It will cover the different tools, techniques and principles used in maintenance and renovative pruning. We will also address aftercare needs including how to correctly deadhead roses and identify common pests and diseases. The attendees will have an opportunity to put their newly learned knowledge and skills into practice under guidance, by having a go at pruning roses in our Rose Garden.

Session1: Wed 8 Feb, Session 2: Wed 15 Feb, Session 3: Wed 22 Feb

Take an everyday vegetable, and turn it into a lovely botanical illustration.  Using a small palette of coloured pencils Janie will guide you through the stages to make your piece of artwork amazingly realistic.  You will be sent an image in advance, so that you’re ready to colour as soon as the course begins.  Full instructions on how to do this and a kit of everything you will need will be posted to you.

On this one day course Mark Crouch, Garden Landscapes Team Leader, will provide basic guidance on the routine summer pruning of common garden trees, shrubs and climbers.  Mark will use a combination of illustrated talks and practical demonstrations to show why we prune trees, shrubs and climbers, and what pruning can achieve. You will also have an opportunity to practice your pruning skills. He will also provide advice on caring for trees, shrubs and climbers and coping with common pests and diseases.

The eighteenth-century landscape garden is frequently hailed as being Britain’s greatest contribution to European culture. Its seductively simple formula made famous by Capability Brown, combined elegance with economic viability, and triumphed over the fashion for French formalism. Its genesis, however, was far from serene.

Travelling through the seasons we will explore the history, folklore and culture of three wild plants in bloom (or at least in foliage!) that month. The session will encourage you to search out plants in all seasons and enjoy the history in folklore and culture, and their use for medicines, cooking as well as the many and varied traditional names which help us trace that history.

Session 1: Sat 21 Jan, Session 2: Sat 4 Feb, Session 3: Sat 18 Feb, Session 4: Sat 4 Mar, Sat 5: Sat 18 Mar

Join Paul Herrington, who will share his top tips and skills to help you to make a start designing your own garden. Across five sessions you will explore design principles, ideas and inspiration, simple surveying and scale drawing, planning for the right plant in the right place as well as developing a layout plan for your own garden and how to ensure year round structure and interest.

Museums like ours contain specimens that belonged to scientific heroes such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who developed the answers to the question of how species evolved. Their stories have been well told; however, they did not work alone. What’s often missing from the histories are the countless local and Indigenous experts who contributed so much to our understanding of the natural world, by collecting specimens for the likes of Darwin and Wallace.

Join us for a talk that explores how Western European religious painting was embraced and transformed by women and queer artists working in 19th and 20th century Britain. The talk relates to works from the Fitzwilliam collection.

This talk will also be livestreamed - if you would prefer to join us online, please go to our separate booking page

Join us in our Clore Learning Studio for free, practical art making workshops. Respond to the displays and exhibitions to make your own artworks. Get creative with artists and our education volunteers, no previous art experience needed!

This week we’ll be joined by world renowned carnival artists from the UK Centre for Carnival Arts, inspired by our exhibition Paint Like the Swallow Sings Calypso.

Join us for a disability friendly quiet Studio Sunday session aimed at children and families with additional sensory needs.

Join us in our Clore Learning Studio for free, practical art making workshops. Respond to the displays and exhibitions to make your own artworks. Get creative with artists and our education volunteers, no previous art experience needed!