I believe in the power of great garden design to ease our minds, improve our health and bring us joy.
To make your garden the best it can be for you, it’s important to me to understand not only your needs but also the nature of your site. I create client and site-specific designs: your garden will be carefully crafted to give you a garden to suit your style as much as your house does, yet environmentally and aesthetically sensitive to your location.
After nearly two decades in this profession I’ve grown an extensive knowledge of plants & horticulture; I draw up detailed planting plans, with plants chosen to suit your gardens’ particular conditions.
I’ve built up an expertise in the technical elements of building a garden too. I love to draw up designs for curvaceous decks, natural wildlife ponds, cool water features and gorgeous timber structures!
My approach is informed by my analytical training as a research scientist and my lifelong engagement with garden-making.
I often think that I grew up in a garden rather than a house. My earliest memories are of being wheeled about (at a great speed!) in a wheelbarrow, picking blackberries from the huge hedge, topping and tailing gooseberries with my sisters, swinging from the beautiful walnut tree and failing to grow wallflowers that I sowed in a bare patch of earth next to a wall.
Since then I’ve been through many stages of garden-making. A strawberry patch as a teenager; spring bulbs outside my first flat; a raised alpine garden with a tiny pond on a concrete courtyard; a family garden with lawn, trees & flowerbeds at last; creating a simple family garden on the wasteland left by developers, to give me sustenance for a while but also tailored to help sell on the house; and now, my lovely new terraced garden: all gold and green: Siberian larch deck and walls; glowing new turf; reflective wildlife pond and my bespoke shed
I‘ve had such pleasure from my gardens; I’d like to create some of that joy for you too!
Professional Development
| Course Title | Date Held | Organised By |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Client Success | Oct 2019 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Water Features & Construction | Sept 2019 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Master of Arts, Landscape Architecture | Sept 2017 | Leeds Beckett University |
| Masterclasses in Design and Planting | Sept 2014 | Oxford School of Garden Design |
| Health, Safety and Environmental Test: Passed | April 2014 | British Association of Landscape Industries |
| Coaching for Leadership and Management | Dec 2011-Nov 2012 | NBSL |
| Designing and Building Gardens on Difficult Sites | Nov 2011 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Construction and Construction Drawings | Oct 2011 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Train to Gain: Business Mentoring | Dec 2010-Feb 2011 | NBSL |
| Coaching for High Growth (inc.Business Mentoring) | May-Nov 2010 | Solutions for Business |
| The Essentials of Excellence | Oct 2010 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Marketing Workshop | Oct 2010 | Business Link |
| Negotiation Skills Workshop | Jul 2010 | Business Link |
| Specification Writing for Real Life | Mar 2010 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Pictorial Meadows, Green Roofs & Rain Gardens | Dec 2009 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Heavenly Gardens in Hellish Places | Oct 2009 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Finance & Business | Nov 2008 | Finance Tree |
| Protect Your Website | Sep 2009 | Own-It |
| Water in the Garden | May 2009 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Making Money from Intellectual Property | Jan 2009 | Own-It |
| Surveying with Confidence | Sep 2008 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Business Development Programme | Jun-Oct 2008 | The Enterprise Agency |
| The Garden: A Reflection of Its Time | Jun 2007 | RHS |
| Not So Soft: Planting to Define Space | Apr 2007 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Unleash Your Potential | Mar 2007 | Women Into the Network |
| Stone | Mar 2006 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Running a Garden Design Practice | Mar 2006 | Society of Garden Designers |
| Advanced Certificate in Horticulture (RHS) | Apr 2003- Jun 2005 | RHS / Houghall College |
| BTEC National Award in Horticulture | Sep 2003-Jun 2004 | BTEC / Houghall College |
| City & Guilds Certificate Component: Garden Design | Apr-Jun 2003 | City & Guilds / Houghall College |