Before & after!

17th May 2024

I do love to show people before & after photos of gardens I have designed. It’s always great to prove what can be done & for me it’s reassuring to see the end results of my time at my drawing board & the toil involved in creating beautiful gardens. I saw a client yesterday who was originally incredibly nervous about making any changes at all but really wanted a lovely garden. She is now over the moon! …they use the garden constantly & will be celebrating a big birthday in it this summer. I hadn’t realised but yesterday she said …

A birds eye view!

2nd May 2024

I had a busy day yesterday with several meetings. The third one was to present the next phase of a very large scheme in the Chilterns – see Pip’s Place in my portfolio. I arrived & all was looking lovely as the garden was coming back to life after a horrible Winter… I arrived to hear a real racket but couldn’t see anything so went to meet Ginni via the back door. Look at what I saw! A bright blue helicopter had landed on the back lawn. Doesn’t it look good with all the camassias! It transpired her gastro pub …

A new Cotswold garden design

25th January 2024

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 …

Designing my own gardens

16th October 2023

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 …

Apologies for my absence!

17th July 2023

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 …

The evolution of one particular garden design

27th October 2022

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 …

April news

28th April 2022

It’s been a busy month as usual but I thought you might be interested to read what I’ve been up to so here’s my April news. I designed several schemes from my French studio throughout February & March & this month I have been presenting them. Wednesday’s presentation was for Jane, a client I have worked with for many years & this is the fifth garden I have designed for her & her husband. It’s so incredibly flattering to be asked to do this – I am very aware of my good fortune. I recommended Tom Gresford who is a …

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 …

On site today in Buckinghamshire

25th June 2020

Well lockdown has eased so I am back on site & visiting clients – both old & new. It’s been relatively easy thankfully as we can stay outside; that said I got soaked to the skin last Thursday & Friday as it lashed down – yuk! Today I was in Buckinghamshire visiting Pip’s Place – a large garden design & build project of several acres where phase 2 has just got underway. It’s a lovely project up in the Chilterns – so – it’s cold & blustery in winter & today in mid June we absolutely roasted in 31 degree …

Chelsea Award Winning Garden Design