... our areas of expertise

It all starts with the first visit to see the site, talk over ideas and see what is possible. Establishing limiting factors such as budget and site access restrictions helps establish design parameters. Then there are all the contextual elements to take into account such as the type and style of property, the surrounding terrain and setting, your tastes and style and the ways you intend to use the grounds or garden or areas under consideration.

All this informs the design process and I go home with photos and wish lists and basic measurements to establish scale from which I can come up with a concept design proposal with an idea of the budget required to achieve it. Then we can look at whether to proceed either with a more established detailed design for an agreed fee or to start work based on the concept and agreed budget.

Matt and I work together on designs depending on their nature. I have an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in general Industrial Design and Matt has a specific Garden Design qualification.

This is a distinct passion stemming from growing up in The Lake District where the raw geology of fells and crags and waterfalls and lakeshores is forever embedded as an inherent sense of natural aesthetic.

I have been nicknamed The Rock Whisperer as I have so often been observed working instinctively with large boulders combining them into outcrops that look as if they have always been there. They look so natural that people seeing them for the first time assume they have been uncovered in situ rather than brought in. We have exclusive access to a section of an old quarry in the Forest of Dean where the rocks are weathered over decades with moss and lichen on them further enhancing the ‘always been there look’ when installed. Introducing the element of stone to an area of land otherwise devoid as so much of The Cotswolds is due to the soft nature of the stone adds a missing ingredient that makes a real difference especially when it appears as bedrock poking through and ideally with a spring gushing forth amongst them.

We can be so far removed from the raw Earth in our daily lives that it has a deep and powerful affect on us to step outside and see and feel stone and water amongst the plants and trees right there. It is the perfect balancing antidote to stressful modern living.

Favouring reclaimed York flagstones we bring down from a supplier now in neighbouring Lancashire and often using reclaimed walling stone we create paved terraces that fit the age and period of the property and so look original to when the house was built or in the case of newer buildings if appropriate become remnants of what was there before.