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 …

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 …

Progress on our own garden build

29th April 2020

This is a quick progress blog on our burgeoning new garden. I am so pleased with it & truly delighted it is still happening through this wretched coronavirus pandemic. It’s been a brilliant distraction & something that truly brings me joy! David of DS Landscapes is coming on his own & ploughing on with it – all safe & at a distance from us who are mostly working indoors. What a difference now the trees have come into leaf & the planters are planted up too… Look at the size of this heap of compost! This is after most of …

Our own garden is being built at last!

23rd March 2020

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

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 …

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 …

Another Cotswold garden completed

16th May 2019

What an entrance! I had lunch in this beautiful Cotswold garden this week thanks to my very kind clients Norman & Zoe. It was a gloriously sunny day & the views were spectacular. Zoe is also a very talented cook so – how lucky am I? When I first went to look at the project the listed Tudor cottage was shrouded by scaffolding & plastic sheeting & the new subterranean portion of the house still underway. The levels were all over the place & my clients were doing battle with the planners. Here’s my first view of it… They wanted …

I skived off work on Friday to see Grayson Perry

15th April 2019

I’ve always loved old maps – particularly the illustrated ones of London & the Thames. My parents had a copy of one with ‘fluvius’ written through the water – it was enlarged & filled a large part of a wall in their bedroom but the detail was still small & just wonderful. When I first saw Map Of Days by Grayson Perry it reminded me so much of that image but this perhaps was even better. The detail, word play & humour in it was just brilliant. It was so intriguing I really wanted to see more. I have always …

A Cotswold garden site visit today

10th April 2019

It’s a lovely life being a garden designer & today was no exception. I visited a large Cotswold garden & despite being blasted by freezing cold wind & a threatening grey sky I was delighted with what I saw. Last time I was there there was a great deal of brown as it had all been seeded. Being forty acres that’s a lot of brown! It’s still really early spring but you can see it all coming to life & the structure is as I had hoped. Below I have planted Prunus Serrula trees through gravel for structural interest whilst …

Buying topiary 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 trees for a few projects. Unfortunately the weather was pretty dreadful but other than that it was great to visit my favourite nursery again. I went for two days – the first day I travelled with Rob Jones of The Garden Design Co & our client Ginni then I stayed in Brussels & met with Tom of TS Landscapes the next day …

Chelsea Award Winning Garden Design