BATH.- A brand new, permanent feature garden will be installed at the museum No.1 Royal Crescent later on this year. The Contemporary Georgian Garden will enhance the visitor experience at the award-winning museum, providing a serene and tranquil space from which to enjoy the iconic architecture of the house. The garden includes a new stone bench for people to enjoy the view of both the garden and the gentle curve of the Royal Crescent.
The installation will transform the currently underused courtyard into a pocket ‘landscape of Bath’, using container planting inspired by Charles Babington’s Flora Bathoniensis (published in 1834). Designed in collaboration with landscape architects Grant Associates, the garden will form part of the museum’s main visitor route, introducing a new narrative around plant species native to the Bath landscape, as recorded by Babington.
As well as being a new part of the museum, the garden also demonstrates the potential for city greening as a proactive action on the climate and nature emergency. The design has been developed to provide a powerful connection between the museum at No.1 Royal Crescent and its wider setting within the landscape of Bath.
Alex Sherman, CEO of Bath Preservation Trust, which runs the museum says: “We are excited to be extending our museum experience with the addition of this immersive garden space to be enjoyed by visitors and the many schools and community groups we work with. The new garden provides opportunities for storytelling about botany in the 18th Century, plant hunters, colonial expansion, and horticultural history, in addition to domestic, medicinal and culinary uses of plants found locally in the Georgian period. We are immensely grateful to the Anthony and Elizabeth Mellows Charitable Settlement for their kind donation, which has enabled its creation.”
Joanna Robinson, Design Conservation and Sustainability Manager at Bath Preservation Trust says: “Bath was designed in harmony with the landscape and plant choices for this garden will exemplify the character of the countryside surrounding the World Heritage Site. An even greener city would benefit everybody and has potential for wide-reaching positive impacts for carbon capture, air quality, urban cooling, health, wellbeing and wildlife. There is huge potential in the collective value of underutilised urban spaces. We want to green the museum courtyard at No.1 Royal Crescent to demonstrate how hardscapes can be transformed into biodiverse growing spaces and inspire others to create their own ‘countryside container yard’.”
Grant Associates is leading the design of the courtyard garden, supported by a specialist team including Dr Mike Wells of Biodiversity by Design (ecological design), Frede Labbe of Expedition (sustainable water management), and Sam Selby of Selby Landscapes (procurement and construction).
Andrew Grant, Founder and Director of Grant Associates says: “Grant Associates are delighted to be working with Bath Preservation Trust to show how this historic sunken courtyard can be transformed into a vital pocket of green space for the benefit of people and wildlife. This small project highlights the wider need for Bath to improve its public and private green spaces to counteract the decline of nature and the impact of climate change.”
The new courtyard garden installation will take place this summer and is scheduled to open in autumn 2026.
