Having lived and worked far and wide across the country I am incredibly lucky to be based in the Yorkshire Dales near Skipton, not far away from where I grew up. This is a great location where I can easily work in Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and also north to the Dales and the Lake District.
Horticultural-ly my career started over 25 years ago very much at ground-level with my first job being on the grounds maintenance team working at a UK public school where I gained my horticultural qualifications. Shortly after I went on to study garden design and then later teach the subject for many years.
It may seem a slightly illogical step to go from large and almost commercial grounds maintenance at a public school to garden design. But having pushed what seemed like a thousand lawnmowers, marked out numerous sports pitches, and fought my way through umpteen shrubberies, I decided that I wanted to know how the landscape is designed, how the plants interact, and how the overall scheme is brought together.
So, I went and studied garden design. Of course, unexpected opportunities often happen. When I was in my early 20’s I was asked to teach design for various institutions including the ‘Open College of The Arts’ – now part of the ‘University for the Creative Arts’ https://www.oca.ac.uk/ a role I relished and did part-time for fourteen years, teaching not only UK students but also across Europe – I am fortunate to have met some exceptionally talented people who have gone on to have garden design as their sole career. Around the same time, I was approached by television broadcasters to assist in preparing items for filming on the gardening programmes – an amazing job.
Horticultural-ly my career started over 25 years ago very much at ground-level with my first job being on the grounds maintenance team working at a UK public school where I gained my horticultural qualifications. Shortly after I went on to study garden design and then later teach the subject for many years.
It may seem a slightly illogical step to go from large and almost commercial grounds maintenance at a public school to garden design. But having pushed what seemed like a thousand lawnmowers, marked out numerous sports pitches, and fought my way through umpteen shrubberies, I decided that I wanted to know how the landscape is designed, how the plants interact, and how the overall scheme is brought together. So, I went and studied garden design. Of course, unexpected opportunities often happen. When I was in my early 20’s I was asked to teach design for various institutions including the ‘Open College of The Arts’ – now part of the ‘University for the Creative Arts’ https://www.oca.ac.uk/ a role I relished and did part-time for fourteen years, teaching not only UK students but also across Europe – I am fortunate to have met some exceptionally talented people who have gone on to have garden design as their sole career. Around the same time, I was approached by television broadcasters to assist in preparing items for filming on the gardening programmes – an amazing job.
Garden design relies incredibly heavily on gardening knowledge and experience. Having invested and built up the business both the maintenance portfolio and contracts were separately disposed of in 2004. Since then I have been designing and advising clients on their gardens. These gardens once constructed have ranged from modest rear garden schemes to larger country house sites covering several acres where complete landscaping works have been undertaken.
So how can I help you with your garden? Regardless of the size, even if it’s only a windowbox, whatever the question, or if you’d like a visit then send me an email.
Will it cost? probably not, it’s me and I’m always willing to help and spend an hour or two looking around a garden, discussing your project and answering questions.
