Time to go home…

1st September 2025

We’ve spent much of the Summer here in our French house & it’s been fabulous. Such hot weather (bit too hot tbh), visits to the local markets, dog walks, family visits & oh I got a lot of work done too! Bruno loves it as we’re always around & he gets fantastic walks over the fields that surround us – that is when the cows aren’t there! We visited Chateau de Rivau whilst family were visiting – it’s a really lovely place with super gardens & a great restaurant set within their parterre. Look at this super planting scheme & …

Latest work & Cotswold life in March

17th March 2025

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

What a range of projects!

11th October 2019

Normally I show you drawings & plans of gardens I’m working on or work in progress or beautiful images of completed gardens. This time I’m showing you the before shots of these projects I currently have on my books. There’s a manor house in Warwickshire, a couple of farms with many acres, a new build Georgian style mansion, a Cotswold cottage, an uber modern glass house near Henley on Thames, our barn & a plot in Bristol where the existing house is to be torn down. Here are some … What is fascinating about my job is the variety …

Buying mature topiary specimens for my clients

8th April 2019

I love my job as a garden designer. I say it all the time because it is true. One of my favourite things after actually drawing is shopping for trees. I was in Belgium last week looking for mature trees for a few projects – particularly mature topiary. Unfortunately the weather was pretty dreadful but other than that it was great to visit my favourite nursery again. I went for two days & met with Tom of TS Landscapes on day 2. Here’s a little of what we found… Here’s Tom. We endured horizontal rain & hailstones – look carefully …

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 …

We’re in Homes & Gardens Magazine!

10th April 2017

One of my gardens that I’ve written about quite a lot here is currently featuring as a 6 page spread in the May edition of Homes & Gardens Magazine. It is not entirely unexpected as the photographer took photos last summer but it was due to be featured in the June edition so we’re all delighted but a little surprised. Here’s a sneak preview… The article focusses on the natural aspects of the garden as Jane is a huge nature lover. The wild flower meadows are by Rob Jones as he’s the expert there – I do structures & layouts. …

Garden open to the public

28th June 2015

One of my gardens was opened to the public last week under the open gardens scheme & it was a great success. The sun shone, people arrived in droves, much tea & cake was consumed all was well in my world! Jane & Doug who own the garden had it looking pretty pristine – all of us involved with this lovely project were very proud. Over £1400 was raised for the charity & numbers neared 300 visitors. Here are some pics I took on the day

Chelsea Award Winning Garden Design