There are two courses, one on the 15th. and 16th. September covering the principles of design and the second on 29th. and 30th. September which is a ‘hands on’ course on landscaping techniques. Please do just get in touch if you would like more details and a synopsis.
If there is one thing I cannot abide are Horticultural snobs. Does it frankly matter if a plant is pronounced one way or another, of course not!
I’m currently working on a whole range of projects including two delightful courtyard gardens in London, several country gardens as well as a proposal for a Botanic Garden in Panama, life is never dull.
I have just finished writing my latest book, ‘The Room Outside’ which will be published by Jacqui Small in August of this year. It is very much concerned with outside living and the fact that many gardens are becoming ever smaller, a constant design challenge!
We are looking at setting up an office in central France which will make working in Europe much easier but the UK will of course remain our design base, certainly for the time being.
Of particular interest is my work with the Wyevale Group of garden centres, the largest in the world where I’m involved with interactive staff training as well as sitting on the advisory board. It’s a fascinating post and an important one; there are things to do in the garden centre world.
Trips this year are planned to South Africa where I teach and design, as well as seeing my Landscape Partner in Japan, Hirofumi Fukasawa who is a gifted designer as well as building gardens and running his own garden centre, nestled under the slopes of Mount Fuji.
As usual I shall be running weekend courses at Barnsdale Gardens with my good friend and colleague Adam Frost.
Barnsdale was of course the late Geoff Hamilton’s famous BBC Gardeners World garden and I filmed there with him many times. Barnsdale is now run by Nick and Sue Hamilton and they keep it beautifully, it is an ideal place to teach garden design.