The Friends of the Landscape Archive Reading (FOLAR) is a lively group dedicated to raising the profile and use of the Landscape Institute archive and library housed at The Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL). FOLAR was formed in 2014 and since then:
FOLAR is supported by subscription, donations, volunteers’ time and driven by an irrepressible enthusiasm to promote great landscapes.
Disseminating information and ideas held in the landscape archive is central to FOLAR’s activities, to encourage more informed interpretation of the past and provide the foundations for future well designed landscapes.
We would love you to join us; there are no special requirements or qualifications to become a friend. What unites our members is a fascination with their landscape heritage.
We hold an annual symposium, usually at The MERL with an accompanying pop up exhibition of relevant archival material
We organise other events eg talks, throughout the year
We are expanding our celebratory oral history series - following on from the Brian Clouston and partners event
We record as many of our talks as possible and make them freely available from our website
We fundraise to support all these activities and to develop new ones
Contact us at info@folar.uk
Barry Newland’s first job was with Stevenage Development Corporation where Gordon Patterson was the principal landscape architect. Barry contacted FOLAR on reading about Gordon on our website.