Working from France

26th July 2021

Six years ago our dream came true & we bought a house in France. I love the relaxed French way of life; their fabulous architecture, food, style, culture & in this area – the weather! We bought a stone house two miles away from the Medieval Royal City of Loches in the Loire Valley. It is a picture perfect French town with a fantastic market that takes over all the cobbled streets twice a week. We love to sit & people watch from one of our favourite cafes on a Saturday morning & buy wine from one of the independent …

Will you vote for me in the Muddy Stilettos Awards?

14th July 2021

I was nominated for Muddy Stilettos 2021 best garden designer in Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire recently. It’s their #inlovewithlocal awards which is a very fine thing; their mission is to encourage independent businesses & for people to discover & use those businesses.I have no idea how or by who I was nominated but I was very flattered indeed! I asked my clients & instagram followers if they would kindly vote for me. Such generous & kind people they are as they voted in sufficient numbers to get me into the finals – hooray! According to Muddy Stilettos there were over 500,000 …

Revisiting the walled garden with parterre

16th June 2021

I’m madly busy as usual with so many schemes on my books at the moment. I feel very honoured to be asked to design new gardens for some fantastic projects – thanks to all of you if you are reading this. Between site visits I popped in to see one I designed a while back on a glorious sunny day. I actually designed this walled garden back in 2012 & I had a lovely time walking around chatting with my happy client Rebecca & catching up. I felt so proud! Not sure if I am supposed to say that but …

A few new garden design drawings

16th February 2021

As a designer, I am always juggling several schemes in order to meet deadlines & at the moment there’s no exception. I have a couple of very large Georgian houses in substantial grounds, a new oak framed house with several acres on a sloping site, a Gospel Hall conversion in Norfolk, a large modern house with underground parking & a lake near me in Witney, a cottage in the Cotswolds & a converted stone barn. I am never bored!! Here are a few new drawings to show you what I’ve been up to. It shows a range of projects I …

Snowy scenes in the Cotswolds this week

1st February 2021

We had a beautiful blanket of snow this week – the first we have had since the garden was built & it looked beautiful! Sadly it’s all gone as I type but I took some photos I’d like to share. We live on the edge of the Cotswolds in a group of converted stone barns that wrap around our new courtyard garden. Every room looks onto it so it has to pay its way…. It does – waking up to this was such a joy! The frozen pool & Cotswold stone wall looking beautiful in the snow I dashed out …

News in February 2020

17th February 2020

2020 has been a great year so far. Firstly I’m very pleased to have been invited to be on The List by House & Garden. It’s a prestigious place to be & I am in impressive company so thank you very much House & Garden! I am also delighted to say I won the annual Houzz Best designer award 2020. It’s wonderful to open an email with exciting news so thank you to everyone at Houzz & all the people who follow my work there. Exciting news on the home front too – After two years of builders knocking our …

A small garden on an estate

20th October 2018

This is my initial plan for a small contemporary garden on an estate. It’s a great location – right in the heart of Newbury & within walking distance of all the amenities. The downside was the buildings around were quite imposing. The builders had left rubbish around & compacted the ground so much the lawn really struggled. My scheme aimed to create an inward focused garden & provide privacy where needed too. The water feature provides a distraction to the bustle going on beyond the garden. As you can see it was pretty boring when I first saw …

More to a garden designer than you might think!!

6th July 2018

I’m working on quite a big scheme at the moment near Marlborough in Wiltshire. My clients have some great ideas & it’s pushing me to be really creative. I talked about their fantastic Corten tree sculpture in my last blog & as they want a tree sculpture in their new scheme I’ve been looking at options. As I’ve been so taken with the one they currently have holding up their roof I’ve been playing around with that look in card as a freestanding piece that might sit in a pool. One of the things I liked were the strong bold …

Contemporary garden thoughts this sunny June

29th June 2018

I’m busy working on several schemes at the moment & am just about to start on quite a large one near Marlborough in Wiltshire. My clients love all things modern & smart & want something elegant & funky too. I’m excited as I love working with clean lines & my clients have given me free reign. They liked several of my schemes including our own small courtyard garden in Henley on Thames which we sold a few years ago. I thought I’d take a look at it again 10 years on… This is what we bought which was pretty dreadful …

A romantic & contemporary new garden

28th June 2018

This quote I believe is by Alfred Lord Tennyson & the carving was commissioned by my client for his wife – I think it is beautiful. I’m not a poetry fan if I’m honest but I think this is just perfect & such a lovely gesture – so romantic & looks fabulous engraved in this lovely wide oak boardwalk. This is quite a sizeable scheme – not without issues as there is a considerable change in level from front to back. Although a serious headache I actually love to play with levels as the results can be amazing. They can …

Chelsea Award Winning Garden Design