The Royal Oak Foundation

The Royal Oak Foundation is a link for American Landscape Gardeners to The British National Trust - England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

American landscape gardeners planning to explore British gardens in 2008 should investigate The Royal Oak Foundation. Established in 1973, the Foundation allows American anglophiles membership and privileges in the British National Trust that includes 200 gardens and landscape parks.

I’ve continued my Royal Oak membership since the early 80s when I lived in England for several months. An English friend, a resource person great at matching people with organizations, urged membership in this fledgling organization thinking I might be able to deduct membership price from my income tax.

The Royal Oak Foundation is a United States tax-exempt non-profit 501-c-3. While I cannot advise anyone on IRS deductions, I can comment on some advantages of Royal Oak membership:

• Free admission and parking at National Trust properties that includes the single largest collection of gardens in the world. Other National Trust properties include 620 thousand acres of countryside, more than 700 miles of coastline, and country houses and castles.

• Lecture programs in the U.S. about National Trust interests and resources. Garden programs for the autumn include:
  • Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer : Allyson Hayward, garden historian and author, on October 17th – New York, NY; October 18th – Cos Cob, CT, and October 22nd – Winterthur, DE.
  • The English Garden Goes Modern: by Christopher Bradley-Hole, garden designer and preservationist, on October 28th – Los Angeles, CA October 30th – New York, NY and November 1st – Lake Forest, IL.

• Members receive these publications:
  • The Royal Oak Newsletter,
  • The National Trust Magazine, and
  • The National Trust Handbook.

• Items sold through The Royal Oak Newsletter and Royal Oak’s Online Gift Shop include books difficult to buy except in England, as well as National Trust Information Pamphlets, and other British tourist information books.

©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2007. Reproduction without permission prohibited.