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 …

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 …

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 …

More to a garden designer than you might think!!

6th July 2018

I’m working on quite a big scheme at the moment near Marlborough in Wiltshire. My clients have some great ideas & it’s pushing me to be really creative. I talked about their fantastic Corten tree sculpture in my last blog & as they want a tree sculpture in their new scheme I’ve been looking at options. As I’ve been so taken with the one they currently have holding up their roof I’ve been playing around with that look in card as a freestanding piece that might sit in a pool. One of the things I liked were the strong bold …

Contemporary garden thoughts this sunny June

29th June 2018

I’m busy working on several schemes at the moment & am just about to start on quite a large one near Marlborough in Wiltshire. My clients love all things modern & smart & want something elegant & funky too. I’m excited as I love working with clean lines & my clients have given me free reign. They liked several of my schemes including our own small courtyard garden in Henley on Thames which we sold a few years ago. I thought I’d take a look at it again 10 years on… This is what we bought which was pretty dreadful …

Chelsea Award Winning Garden Design