The Institute aims to develop a major role on the international stage, disseminating information about gardens and designed landscapes and facilitating the exchange of ideas between scholars, consultants and professionals in the field. This will be achieved through individual lectures, study days, conferences, guided tours and publications.

The Institute is intended to be Britian's equivalent of other centres of excellence recently set up at Versailles, France and Hanover in Germany.

The initial emphasis will be on academic delivery to invited audiences and educational groups. With secure funding, this will broaden to include the setting up of a major reference library of garden and landscape history, which will build upon the holdings of the Garden History Society Library at Bristol. The Institute will eventually:

	Provide a publishing arm to produce scholarly and more accessible publications deriving from courses, study days and conferences
	Provide a repository for archival collections
	Host research projects conducted with funding from major trusts and academic bodies
	Run practical courses and workshops that promote and teach horticulture and related traditional skills