A beautiful home deserves a beautiful garden

Please scroll down to see examples from my portfolio

Country Gardens

The clean lines of good design are just as important in the country as in the town. 

Strong shapes, modern materials and bold sweeps of colour bring country gardens timelessly up to date. 

City gardens

Even the tiniest of spaces is a luxury to be treasured. A city garden should be a personal haven, a place to relax and entertain away from the crowds. And of course, it must look stunning through the bifold doors.

 Practical Gardens

Gardens must be functional as well as beautiful, and there is often a tricky challenge to overcome. Whether you're struggling with an unreasonable slope, unsightly shed or just want to hide a trampoline, there is always an elegant solution.

Now that it's had a couple of years to mature, it's hard to imagine the challenge that this glorious garden once posed. Everything in the garden except the most mature trees is new, including the beautiful boundary walls. There were difficult gradients throughout the garden so the site has been subtly terraced with curving walls to accommodate numerous level changes. Curves sit more comfortably than straight lines in this landscape.

Where the ground level needed to be raised around the magnificent Japanese Maple it was impractical to build a wall for fear of damaging the tree roots. Recycled tyres filled with earth and then turfed provided a tree friendly, cost effective and ecologically sound alternative.

The owners of this special garden wanted to recreate the atmosphere of a luxury spa hotel in their own secluded courtyard. Their existing pool was surrounded by dated concrete paving which was replaced with beautiful pale limestone in a contemporary style.

The cedar clad summer room is open on two sides to allow access all around the pool and overhangs the water slightly, providing a unique spot to dangle feet in the water on a hot day. Generous limestone plinths run out from the many sets of french doors and are linked by a cedar boardwalk that runs right around the space. The unsightly fences and shed are covered with bespoke cedar trellis while large bamboos in polished granite troughs provide extra privacy. The finishing touch is a feature wall tiled in metallic mosaic to define this unashamedly luxurious space.

This lovely Georgian farmhouse provided an unusual challenge. Built into the side of a hill, the front door is 4ft lower than the kitchen door, although they are close together on the same wall. The owners wanted an outdoor kitchen area outside the converted brick barn at the higher level and a separate front door reception area at the lower level. 

The solution to this challenge was to create a circular dining terrace giving on to the reception area with a curved stone staircase. The dining space has a mediterranean flavour while the reception area has a more country house feel. The same landscaping materials are used throughout. An ancient Italian Olive dominates the dining space and provides the chef with a sociable spot to perch whilst cooking. The cupboards and work surface house the owners' existing free standing barbeque and a stainless steel sink. During large social gatherings, extra seating can be set up in both areas.

This is a large family garden in a very peaceful, rural setting that wraps behind a neighbouring property. It needed a design that would link three distinct socialising areas which are quite some way apart. It was to be a contemporary scheme using high end materials that would still sit comfortably within the surrounding countryside.

A scheme based on circles and sweeping curved paths creates an easy sense of movement around the garden. The original hexagonal patio next to the house is transformed into a sensuous curved design. Pale limestone provides a beautiful contrast to the exuberant planting in shades of burgundy and orange. Work is progressing in stages. At the furthest reaches of the garden a small orchard, and gravel borders have been most recently planted. 

Sometimes when space is very tight it pays to just do one thing well. This 5m x 7m London garden is the perfect outdoor dining room that extends the owners' entertaining space for many months of the year. 

The garden was once dominated as so many are by an unsightly shed. This was replaced with a handbuilt cupboard, beautiful enough to be placed in full view of the dining table. Together with repositioning the rear garden door, this allowed every inch of the space to be used more effectively. Bespoke clapboard fencing in a soft shade of grey adds to the sense of calm and space. A large evergreen Olive and evergreen Jasmine climbers are key elements of the planting which provide privacy all year round. 

This is the first garden I designed professionally and is shown below 11 years on. When I first saw the garden it was virtually inaccessible, with a 2m drop out of the kitchen door. 

The owner wanted an Italianate courtyard with no lawn and much of the planting in terracotta pots. The garden is terraced to provide seating areas on three separate levels and feels much larger than it actually is. Two flights of sweeping sandstone steps move you down through the garden to the lower level, with its mature trees and cascading water feature. The walls of the terraces were built as raised beds, bringing space for lush planting up close to the house. 

This property had been completely renovated and the gardens themselves were in a particularly sorry state. Having lived with dust and debris for so long the owner craved for calm and order and for really, really low maintenance.

The front garden was smartly paved for parking and given new London stock brick walls. A striking "Victorian" tiled path leads the way to the front door, past evergreen planting and a glossy Camellia hedge that in time will screen the neighbouring wall.

The rear garden needed to feel light and spacious but there was a need for privacy from the surrounding high rise buildings. An unsightly carport to the rear of the garden was repurposed for much needed storage and given a timber clad facade. The same bespoke cladding in a neutral tone, was used to cover all the existing mismatched walls and fences around the garden. In it's immaculate setting, the paintwork still looks good four years on. Planting in the rear garden was to be evergreen and minimal but oversize Bay tree lollipops and glamorous Camellias set the scene through the bifold doors.