Kew's work in Europe

Castle Howard Arboretum Trust (CHAT)

The Castle Howard Arboretum Trust was established in 1997 by a joint agreement between Castle Howard and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is responsible for an arboretum of 127 acres (51 ha) and Ray Wood 40 acres set in beautiful countryside on the estate in the foot hills of the Howardian Hills north of York.
Both of these collections were established by the late Jim Russell in the 1960s and 70s for George Howard, the owner of Castle Howard.

Iain Oag and Nigel Taylor are Trustees, while Tony Kirkham sits on the Management Committee and arranges horticultural and botanical services from Kew.

John Simmons (Curator, RBG Kew, 1972-95) is the Hon. Curator appointed by CHAT. The Trustees and Management Committees meet twice and 4 times per year, respectively.

The collections in Ray Wood and the Arboretum include many valuable natural source duplicates of accessions at Kew and Wakehurst Place, besides greater genetic diversity of some species at Kew, as well as others that we lack but would have access to. The genera Picea, Alnus, Betula, Sorbus, Acer and Rhododendron are particularly well represented at CHAT and generally perform better than at Kew or Wakehurst Place, so duplication of any of these taxa are made at Castle Howard.

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