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My garden design drawings & illustrations

I got a call today from a lady asking if I sell my drawings. What do you mean? I asked. “Your drawings are gorgeous & those of us who can’t draw would love them framed on our walls!” . “Oh!” I said – “no I don’t; I illustrate my client’s schemes as part of my design process & actually they often do often frame them but apart from that I’ve never thought about it”. “Well you should!” she said. It’s funny as I’ve had a couple of people message me via Instagram asking if I sell my drawings & I …

A new Cotswold garden design

A belated happy new year to you! I had a lovely break with family but that already seems like a distant memory. I’ve lots of really interesting projects on my books at present & am ploughing my way through my project queue. This new garden design is near Bath. It’s a Cotswold farmhouse on a sloping site so is a tad tricky. I do love to play around with levels though so the before & after will be great. I will keep you posted as it progresses. Here are some of my garden plans & illustrations… A couple of my …

The List Featured Designer

I just heard that I’m a featured designer on The List by the prestigious magazine House & Garden. That’s good news isn’t it? If you don’t know House & Garden magazine publish a list of their favourite designers for interiors & gardens, fabrics & furniture. You are asked to join so that was nice but to be a featured designer is nicer still! Thank you House & Garden! Here I am – https://thelist.houseandgarden.com/england/service/joanne-alderson-design Madly busy at the moment so more news & updates soon Until then A bientot

Designing my own gardens

I do love a project! We have moved house several times over the years where we have gutted & redesigned the house & the garden too. It’s fun to design it all but I also really like to put my stamp on a place. Everyone has their own distinctive taste & style & I’m no exception. I thought I’d show you a few of my own gardens I’ve designed & built over the years… Henley on Thames We bought a townhouse right in the centre of Henley as we wanted to be able to walk everywhere & enjoy all that …

Sometimes I design interiors too

I often get asked if I would design a client’s interiors too – usually because they have seen mine & want something similar or they just like my way of thinking. I am a trained designer with the odd degree certificate to prove it but I’m not a trained interior designer, so I always used to say no, but occasionally now I will say yes. We totally reconfigured our lovely barn here in the Cotswolds – here are a few pics… We redid our last place too that was a rather grand Victorian house with 3+ metre tall ceilings & …

Apologies for my absence!

How time flies as they say – apologies for my absence from my blog but I’ve been pretty snowed under (again!) Firstly – very sad news as we lost Dillon, our beautiful 16 year old Maine Coon cat a week before we came out to France. He featured in my last blog actually – I showed a photo of him sprawled as usual all over my desk & keyboard. He hadn’t been well & thankfully we were both with him when he unexpectedly died. Such a gorgeous boy & a happy adventurer too as we always brought him to France …

OK studio – grow up!

My studio in France is tiny. I’ve never minded as it has been fantastic having one here at all! I made it fun & used a tropical print for one wall which I’ve enjoyed looking at for 7 years now. We’ve been doing up our lovely French house with brocante finds since we signed the ownership papers. I really wanted authentic old French furniture & mirrors & a shabby chic kind of vibe – no Ikea for me thanks. As you can see above it’s a beautiful old house built of local tuffeau stone. It was originally built for the …

Designing a new topiary garden

You might recognise this garden if you know my work…this is part of the Secret Garden at Pip’s Place. Have a look here – https://www.joannealderson.com/portfolio/large-gardens-estates/pips-place/. We bought the big taxus topiary beehives in Belgium a few years ago as part of phase 1 & now we are going to add to them. Ginni asked to meet up to discuss this garden & pondered making some changes. She told me how expensive it was to maintain with mowing etc & sadly all the Ilex crenata edging (supposedly the wonder plant replacement for buxus) had died! My immediate thought was to create …

The evolution of one particular garden design

This is the story of how the garden design process for one reason or another can be a little protracted but we always get there in the end. This is about the evolution of one particular garden design. The entrance at Pip’s Place in the Chilterns. I first met Ginni during the summer of 2018 & took the photo below of her then recently completed house. You can see photos of Pip’s Place in my portfolio that show how it has developed in 3 phases so far. I liked Ginni immediately & really loved this fabulous project! It was pretty …