I love the vibrancy and drama in Pre-Raphaelite paintings; it’s as though they have captured the very essence of Mother Nature and amplified it tenfold. The larkspur in Dante’s La Ghirlandata isn’t just blue, it’s …
I am delighted to be talking at the Society of Garden Designers Autumn Conference with this prestigious list of speakers, hoping you will be able to join us at The Royal Geographical Society in London. …
Finally we have had some rain here at Mansard House in Suffolk. Since May we have only watered the polytunnel and everything else has had to take turns with the washing up bowl contents. Many …
The garden at Mansard House, here in Suffolk is not so much of a designed garden, but rather a kind of garden laboratory to try out planting schemes before imposing them on our clients. The …
Autumn colour is always a bit disappointing at Mansard House – with the exception of this year. I think it’s a soil/climate thing. Firstly, our soil is a very silty sandy loam with a very …
The soil at Mansard House is far too fertile for the traditional wildflower meadow. Owing to the fact that we are on alluvial flood plain; essentially silty loam. I have managed it as a wildflower …
There is one big hurdle to overcome when designing a garden in the city of Cambridge in that it is the driest city in the UK. Combined with rain shadow and global warming, Cambridge is …
It’s at this time of year that our rewilded part of the garden really comes into its own. When I say rewilded, it’s not on a Knepp scale with herds of marauding beasts roaming over …
We were so proud to have been chosen to design a new garden for Peterhouse, Cambridge, the oldest of the Cambridge colleges. The three acre plot is on the North side of Trumpington Street, bound …
