Kate Felus

Who is Kate Felus?

Kate Felus is a designed-landscape historian. She studied at University of Warwick and University of Bristol. Her specialist subject area is the social history of 18th-century gardens and their buildings.

From 1996 to 2001 Kate was Garden Historian at Stowe, the 18th-century landscape garden, where the National Trust is undertaking a massive restoration programme begun in 1990. Her role included being part of the Stowe Restoration Team, providing specialist research to aid with the production of a series of Conservation Plans that addressed the individual character areas within the formal gardens and wider parkland. The historic research directly influenced and guided a programme of archaeological investigations that were critical to ensuring that the restoration of each character area was accurate and appropriate.

She was a trustee of Hestercombe Gardens surrounding Hestercombe House and has also been involved with buildings conservation both at Stowe and as Project Co-ordinator for the National Trust’s first restoration of a Modernist building, the Erno Goldfinger House at 2 Willow Road, Hampstead.

Recent publications on garden conservation have discussed the landscapes of Blenheim Palace, Dunster Castle, Croome Court and Westbury Court. Her doctoral thesis is entitled "Beautiful objects and agreeable retreats: Uses of Garden Buildings in the designed landscape in 18th-century England".