ABOUT US
Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design is an award winning garden design practice. We are highly skilled designers and landscape architects collaborating as an intimate team to deliver elegant, atmospheric and enduring landscapes.
Our gardens range in scale from urban pieds-à-terres to rural, historic parklands. Each are defined by their unique sense of place, artistry, skilled craftsmanship, biodiversity enhancement and exquisite planting.
Based in a 400 year old converted barn nestled within the Suffolk countryside, we are continually learning from East Anglia’s rapidly evolving climate; to develop resilient spaces that nurture harmonious and mutually beneficial relationships between humans and nature.
OUR AWARDS
Gold Awards:
RHS Gold Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2022
RHS Gold Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2008
RHS Gold Medal – Hampton Court Flower Show 2007
RHS Gold Medal – Hampton Court Flower Show 2006
Silver Awards:
RHS Silver Gilt Medal - Chelsea Flower Show 2023
RHS Silver Gilt Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2021
RHS Silver Gilt Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2019
RHS Silver Gilt Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2016
RHS Silver Gilt Medal and RHS Peoples Choice Award – Chelsea Flower Show 2012
RHS Silver Gilt Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2010
RHS Silver Gilt Medal – Chelsea Flower Show 2009
RHS Silver Medal – Hampton Court Flower Show 2005
The practice has also been featured in numerous press titles including: Gardens Illustrated, Country Life, House & Garden, The Telegraph, The Times, The English Garden, The Guardian and The Financial Times.
ABOUT TOM
Tom is a British landscape designer, horticulturist and gardener who set up his garden design practice shortly after graduating from The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His work is underpinned by his innate understanding and knowledge as a plantsman and horticultural master. He has an inherent discernment for the intangible ‘spirit of place’ that characterises a landscape.
An established figure at RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court, he has received three gold, four silver gilt and two silver medals. In addition, he also won the coveted People’s Choice Award for his Arthritis UK sponsored garden.
He received a nomination for The People’s Choice of The Decade Award in 2020.
In May 2022 he was awarded a further gold medal for his garden, The Boodles Travel Garden at RHS Chelsea.
He is a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers (MSGD).
Tom places great importance on working with and supporting his local community. He regularly engages in local planting initiatives, acts as a judge for East Anglia In Bloom events and proactively supports horticultural education for the young.
Keen to encourage and develop the healing and well-being qualities associated with landscape, Tom has designed a therapeutic garden for a Children’s Hospice at Haven House, in collaboration the Greenfingers Charity.
He has a regular presence in the press and receives frequent invitations to speak publicly to share his knowledge for Garden MasterClass and many other organisations.
THE TEAM
Kate Booty
Practice Manager
Kate manages the practice and has worked with Tom and his team for many years. She ensures the smooth running of the office and that projects are efficiently delivered on time and within budget. Kate manages the administrative, financial, HR and business development aspects of the practice. She is integral to the Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design team.
Jane Fitzgerald White
Design Director
Jane is a chartered member of the Landscape Institute with 30 years experience in landscape design and management, and specialises in the sustainable development of sensitive historic, ecological and coastal landscapes.
Working on award-winning projects in the UK and Ireland, she has led on a diverse range of private and public garden design commissions involving urban regeneration, heritage, public art, healthcare, education, transport, sustainable housing and managed wilding. She also specialises in gardens for houses built within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Paragraph 84 policy.
A former lecturer in sustainable design for the Landscape Architecture department at the University of Gloucestershire, she continues to mentor young designers.
Jane is a WildEast pledgee, the Suffolk-based re-wilding organisation associated with the Somerleyton Estate. She is also a writer, exploring the fascinating and complex relationship existing between humans and landscape.
Dorota Bak
Landscape Architect
Dorota has worked with Tom and the team since the autumn of 2017 and has a wealth of experience in the landscape design profession, both in the UK and Poland, stretching over 17 years.
In 2007, after completing a MEng. in Landscape Architecture, Dorota worked on extensive urban development and masterplanning projects for commercial and residential schemes. Relocating to the UK in 2013, Dorota has honed her expertise in conceptual design and the development of complex, multi-layered planting palettes. She is a versatile designer, adept at delivering landscapes of varying scales and complexities.
Dorota is an invaluable member of the team and possesses a keen, pragmatic eye for technical detail ensuring our gardens not only harmoniously reflect their architectural and landscape setting but also work practically. She’s also an ace at plant procurement - if Dorota can’t source a plant, then no one can!
Dorota is a keen and knowledgeable forager, especially of fungi, and loves making time in her busy schedule to enjoy her allotment garden.
Trevor
Top Dog
Trevor joined the practice in the summer of 2018. He trained at Charlie’s Dog Training Centre, graduating after only 8 weeks of intensive training, though he regards most of what he learnt as completely unnecessary.
Trevor specialises in bounding through the long grass and is happiest when in water – preferably muddy. He brings immense pleasure to the Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design team.
Neville
Epitome of Canine Elegance
With the looks of an 18th century Gilpin portrait, Neville joined the practice in 2021 and brings a subtle and elegant presence to the studio. But that’s where the resemblance ends.
Untrainable and unimpressed by instruction, he moves entirely to his own rhythm, selecting the sunniest spots for repose and bounding through fields with effortless grace. Calm, aloof, and entirely his own dog, Neville lends an air of understated charm and quiet defiance to Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design.