6 May 2026

How the landscapes and gardens in Jane Austen’s novels not only represented the horticultural fads in Regency England of the time but were also important elements in her plots, will be the subject of the first in a new series of public talks – entitled Living Landscapes - at Cirencester’s Royal Agricultural University (RAU).

Architectural and landscape historian Timothy Mowl – who is an Honorary Professor in the University’s Cultural Heritage Institute – will deliver the talk, entitled ‘A prettyish kind of a little wilderness - Landscapes and gardens in the novels of Jane Austen’ at the University’s Alliston Centre on Thursday 14 May.

Timothy has written more than 35 books on conservation, architectural, garden, and landscape history, and his latest book - All Around is Fairy Ground – Pleasure and the Regency Garden, which includes a chapter on Jane Austen and gardens and which is the inspiration for his talk – will be published in July.

He explained: “All Around is Fairy Ground has been the most self-indulgent book I have ever written, full of impossibly garish gardens in the worst possible taste, yet compelling in their kitschery. The Regency is like an all-night party, a heady mix of exotic excess, with the gentry eating, drinking and dancing into the early hours in gardens hung with lanterns, shimmering in the moonlight.

“It was the first time that men took a back seat and women began to take control of the gardens around country houses, creating flowery, perfumed areas for their leisure and amusement. Fairy Ground is full of empowered owners like Catherine, the beautiful Russian Countess of Pembroke, who masterminded the Italian Garden there.”

Timothy’s lavishly illustrated talk will consider the 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. 

Jane Austen’s life spanned the demise of Capability Brown’s minimalist landscaping (he died in 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.

Timothy added: “Humphry Repton - the Uriah Heep of garden history with his before and after make-overs delivered in evocative watercolours – is central to the Regency period in landscape gardens. For Georgiana, Duchess of Bedford he fashioned an ornamental garden complete with an enclosure for kangaroos! 

“Jane Austen was ahead of the curve in all matters concerning garden style. At the heart of her novels - and my talk - are the shrubberies, sweet-scented, shadowy places for exercise, contemplation and, above all, romantic assignations. Almost all of her plot twists take place outdoors, mostly in designed shrubberies laid out for romantic assignations.”

Living Landscapes: an evening with Timothy Mowl will take place at The Alliston Centre at the Royal Agricultural University, Stroud Road, Cirencester, GL7 6JR from 6pm on Thursday 14 May. Tickets are £11.55 and are available on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/living-landscapes-an-evening-with-timothy-mowl-tickets-1986320271402, or just search Living Landscapes RAU.

The evening will start with refreshments at 6pm, with Timothy Mowl’s hour-long talk starting at 6.30pm. The talk will be followed, at 7.30pm, by a short Q&A session. Free parking – including limited disabled parking spaces - is available and a small bar (cash or card) will offer soft drinks, beer, wine and snacks.