EGHN – European Garden Heritage Network

The EGHN has strengthened the profile of gardens since 2003 and has underlined their central importance for politics, society, urban design, tourism and regional economic development. Resources and knowledge have been exchanged within the INTERREG project and programmes and guidelines have been developed which will ensure that Europe’s wealth of gardens will be secured and enhanced by way of regional garden routes and European theme routes, innovative planning strategies, the networking of cultural landscapes, improved accessibility and new information and educational programmes.

Since 2003, contacts and partnerships have been formed on both the professional and political level, and new collaborative projects have been initiated which have resulted in the EGHN becoming established and continuing to grow as the European Garden Network, even after EU funding has expired. The EGHN Masterplan which was adopted in 2009 sets out future prospects and has proven itself to be an effective action-oriented guideline for new concepts and projects

The twelve regional garden routes and five European theme routes currently consist of approximately 210 gardens in 21 countries: Germany, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Latvia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece, Malta and Ukraine.

Along with 120 cultural landscapes, they are presented on www.eghn.eu and in publications to people  interested in garden design and culture, inviting these to visit them and to spend longer periods of time in the regions. The diverse functions and potentials of parks and gardens remain the focus of the EGHN, whereby this is accompanied by the strengthening of both internal networking and the active participation of all gardens and partners.

EGHN - The Network

  • for specialists and garden lovers
  • with specialist, social, educational, economic and urban design objectives and measures
  • connects specialist fields and regions
  • links gardens to regional cultural landscapes and other cultural institutions
  • strengthens regional character and European points of reference
  • secures (political) acceptance and support
  • provides attractive, well-founded information on gardens
  • carries out marketing for parks, gardens and garden regions
  • develops projects of its own and reacts to the needs of its partners

Valuable Partnership

Partnership in the EGHN is

  • open to private and public parks and gardens of varying sizes
  • possible for historical and contemporary parks and gardens
  • not confined to one area, whereby the development of regional garden routes is advantageous

All the gardens and parks in the EGHN Partner Network

  • fulfil international selection criteria and quality standards
  • are characteristic of their region or of one of the five European themes
  • are well tended
  • are of regional or transregional significance
  • encourage visits to the other gardens in the network due to their quality and character

Target Groups

The target groups for the garden and theme routes comprise

  • enthusiasts of historical and modern gardens
  • visitors interested in art, culture and nature
  • day tourists or tourists staying for several days
  • individuals and groups
  • visitors interested in sustainable tourism and sophisticated programmes

EGHN Quality Brand

  • common, recognised and practicable quality standards and selection criteria
  • proof of sustainability and visitor satisfaction
  • logo and name protected as a European brand
  • consolidation as a certification mark and as a unique selling point
  • presentation of European Garden Award since 2012
  • increasing international interest in partnerships and collaborative projects

Looking towards the Future

EGHN is working on new concepts in relation to the following issues:

  • climate change as a challenge and an opportunity
  • responsible tourism, sustainable garden tourism
  • collaboration between garden owners in regional networks (e.g. park management, offers for tourists)
  • collaboration with the business sector

and organises projects in this regard, notably

  • HYBRID PARKS (in the programme INTERREG IVC) www.hybridparks.eu
  • EGHN GartenKulturReisen North Rhine-Westphalia (Objective 2 Programme of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia) www.gartenkulturreisen.de
  • the European Garden Award (supported by the von Ehren tree nursery) www.europäischergartenpreis.eu

as well as

  • lecture series, workshops and conferences

European Collaboration

International networking makes it possible to

  • share experiences regarding strengths and successful examples particular to specific countries
  • address the tourist target group in Europe by means of the respective regional routes and theme gardens
  • increase local presence through, e.g. exhibitions, information material, flags and posters
  • raise awareness of parks and gardens and acquire new visitor (groups)

Objective: to gain further potential through new partner gardens and partner regions, e.g. in Austria, Greece, Denmark, Poland and Malta.

Network of Experts

EGHN furthers international contacts both formally and informally, on an individual and institutional level, between

  • garden owners, garden managers and regional garden initiatives
  • staff involved in the care of landscape, culture and monuments and in park management
  • tourism professionals and garden managers
  • landscape, urban and regional planners
  • politicians at local and regional level
  • staff at ministries and subsidising authorities

Websites and Brochures

  • presentation of all gardens in short and long texts, history, visitor information, photograph gallery
  • in three languages throughout (Ger, Fr, Eng), increasingly also in Dutch
  • international presence and links through partner gardens and organisations
  • awards for content and design
  • excellent ranking in search engines
  • 50,000 brochures per route in North-Rhine Westphalia as well as 150,000 NRW flyers
  • new edition planned for 2013/2014
  • increasing relevance as an advertising vehicle
  • newsletter to more than 1,200 international specialists

Expanded Communication

EGHN partners furthermore profit from

  • presence at international tourist fairs and garden shows
  • updates of website entries
  • use of the events calendar at www.eghn.eu
  • editorial consideration in the EGHN newsletter and on the website’s news page
  • invitations and, in some cases, discounted participation** in EGHN events and those of its partners
  • short presentations of the EGHN on the hybridparks.eu und GartenKulturReisen.de websites (2013)

**e.g. at the park management symposia of the Schloss Dyck Foundation

Contact Partners

The Schloss Dyck Foundation, Centre for Garden Design and Landscape Culture, as the body responsible for the European Garden Network EGHN, and the project managers commissioned by the EGHN

  • provide information where there is interest in a partnership or collaboration
  • are open to questions and suggestions
  • use these to develop ideas and concepts for common measures and projects*
  • arrange contacts within the partner network and to other organisations and networks*
  • provide advice in the case of problems of individual or common relevance*

Please contact us by feedback@eghn.org

*these may involve additional costs

CONTACT

Project Lead:

Schloss Dyck Foundation – Centre for Garden Art and Landscape Design
Jens Spanjer
41363 Jüchen
Phone: 0049 2182 8240
Mail: j.spanjer@stiftung-schloss-dyck.de

Project Management:

Christian Gruessen (Plan+)
Ingelore Pohl (pohl.planung.projektentwicklung)
Phone: 0049 231 10 44 64
Mail: feedback@eghn.org