A Tour of England in the Footsteps of Frederick Law Olmsted – United Kingdom
Olmsted famously drew inspiration from his explorations in England, and this unique travel opportunity will allow fans to retrace his footsteps through great private estates such Knowsley Hall and Hagley Hall as well as Birkenhead Park. The sheer beauty of England, its countryside, the hedges, the hay-stacks and apple trees that he saw, the great houses like Chatsworth, Stoneleigh Abbey and Charlecote, and the places of public congregation, like Birkenhead Park and the Birmingham Arboretum – they are still there today – and that makes this tour a kind of quest, to see what he saw and what he missed, what he understood and where he was misled, and to recapture the vision of a contented people sharing in a peaceful democracy that was to drive his long and noble career as a landscape architect.
Led by landscape architect and historian John Phibbs MBE, each stop on the tour will include exclusive access and a meeting with local experts. The hope is that these experiences will foster lively group discussions about life, urban and rural and about the many forms of public and private space.