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In this hot weather check your irrigation!

We’re recently back from France where the weather was stupidly hot @ 45 degrees – here’s a photo I took of our Alexa in our French kitchen in case no-one believed me! Since our return things have escalated with dreadful wildfires rampaging through southern France & Spain. Our British climate is such a relief to us in comparison. That said I’ve noticed our hydrangeas around the drive are really struggling. I’d assumed that the irrigation simply wasn’t up to the heat we’ve had here – although so much cooler than France, it has been intense & on top of that …

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The design & making of a new garden fit for a wedding

I got a call last July from a lady called Cath in Oxfordshire who wanted her Thameside garden made over in order to look great for her daughter’s wedding in August this year. After checking with my team @ TS Landscapes, Tom said it was tight but doable… This is about the design & making of a new garden… Cath & her husband Ian were seeing other designers too as is often the way. I completely understand but it is nonetheless quite unnerving even after a career of over thirty years. When I went to see them after I had …

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Woven willow – learning a new skill & Christmas at Chatsworth House

I love woven willow & specify it when I can for my clients. It’s a great natural screen, utilises amazing craftspeople’s skills & looks terrific in the right space. I’ve written about it before way back in 2014.. As I said in that blog I have several large woven sculptures here in our house & as it’s a barn conversion a few cow heads look in-keeping with the look I’ve put together…This is Toro (he’s Spanish!) who guards my studio & this below is Bob … we don’t normally name inanimate creatures in our house but this one was made …

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I do love a posh garden centre!

I’m really lucky in that I get to see the most amazing trade nurseries when buying & selecting trees in particular for my clients. My absolute favourite is Solitair in Belgium… here are a few photos I took when visiting with Tom, my contractor. As you can see we can buy incredible Alice in Wonderland style topiary. I do however also love a posh garden centre that’s open to all. I fortuitously live very near 3 really splendid ones where I go for inspiration sometimes but never leave empty handed. My favourite is Daylesford which started as a farm shop. …

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I visited a recently completed & quite wonderful architectural garden I designed in Old Amersham

I took Bruno my beautiful Briard to see a recently completed architectural garden I designed yesterday in Old Amersham. It is a courtyard style garden on 3 levels to suit the modern architecture of the new passive house. It is a structured scheme of contemporary ‘garden rooms’ & sight-lines – with plenty of interest & areas to sit & admire & enjoy. This photo below shows the bespoke seating area beside the modern conservatory. There are both steps & a slope for easy access to all levels however able you are… I had arranged to meet James – a professional …

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Latest work & Cotswold life in March

Hello, this is just a quick round up of various projects & things I’ve been up to here in Hardwick in March. It was our wedding anniversary on the 5th so we went to The Wild Rabbit at Kingham for dinner. It’s my favourite restaurant where the food & style are both excellent. Highly recommended it’s one of the Bamford/ Daylesford group & all their places are fantastic. I’m a huge fan. Work-wise I’ve quite a range of work on my books at the moment. This one pictured above is my latest garden design & it’s quite complicated. The plot …

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I won again! Best of Houzz 2025

Hello & apologies for not writing for such a long time – oops!! Time flies as they say 🙂 So on Monday I checked my emails & Houzz had sent me an email telling me I had won the best design award – Best of Houzz 2025. What a lovely start to the week & I’d done nothing to make it happen; the lovely users of the Houzz website had done it so thank you all @ Houzz!! I believe it is about how many saves a garden gets & this one is a Cotswold garden I designed 20 years …

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A week of site visits

It’s definitely Winter here at Manor Farm Barn this week as we’ve had the first flurry of snow. It looked so pretty but didn’t last long sadly. The Winter sun has taken over showing the Hakonechloa off in it’s Autumn colour against the Cotswold stone… Busy busy with work as always – I have several projects being built at the moment so am spending my time travelling about visiting 3 separate sites & my clients both new & existing. On top of that I’m madly trying to get some drawing done. All good – it’s great to be busy – …

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Buying mature trees & topiary @ fabulous trade nurseries

Buying mature trees & topiary for clients is a real perk of my job. I get to go to wonderful places & buy fantastic specimen trees – some so enormous we have to plant them with the aid of a crane. Last week I went with Tom to find trees & topiary for my Bath project currently being built by his team. This is one of my drawings of my design. It is a courtyard garden behind one of the fabulous classical Georgian facades at this elegant townhouse just near the Royal Crescent. My aim is for the garden to …

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Garden designer in Oxfordshire