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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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

April news

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

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

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

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 …

Our own garden is being built at last!

After two years of being here, we have completed the work on the house & finally work has started on the garden. As you can see above, the magnificent Acer globosums arrived on the lorry last week. We were very excited & half the village came out to see what was going on! This is my husband posing for a photo. Here they are awaiting their new home. Aren’t they magnificent? I have loved this variety of tree for many years after seeing them in France in village squares providing shade. I took this photo below in 2014 in Provence …

News in 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 …