I am a gardener, designer, and rose specialist. Trained in architecture and horticulture, my approach is plant led with a designers eye. As a gardener, I am interested in how gardens grow and change. I embrace the unique characteristics that plants can bring to spaces and believe they can transform not only our surroundings, but also improve our well being.

My hands-on approach allows me to remain physically in touch with plants and soil whilst continually informing my skills and design approach.  At a time when climate change is throwing us seasonal curveballs, working as a gardener helps me to see and feel the effects this has on gardens, and crucially, the wildlife that depends on them. A new or old garden can be transformed to bring more beauty whilst enhancing biodiversity and providing you with opportunities to forage, harvest, heal and make from the plants in your garden.

I have been fortunate to work in some of the most wonderful, world-renowned gardens in the UK, many are historically or botanically important. Most have been Grade I or Grade II listed, for their important plant collections and design. I worked full-time for the National Trust for over five years, as a Senior Gardener at Hidcote Manor Gardens in Gloucestershire, and prior to this as a Gardener at Nymans in West Sussex.

I have gained training at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. I have also undertaken placements in the Kitchen Gardens of Gravetye Manor in West Sussex and at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire,  both of which are certified organic and experimental Michelin star restaurant gardens. To develop and expand my pruning and rose training skills, I have worked with gardeners at the National Collection of Old Roses at Mottisfont Abbey, in Hampshire and in the Rose Garden created by Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in Kent.

My qualifications comprise of both RHS Level 3 & Level 2 Diplomas in the Principles & Practices of Horticulture.  I completed a two-year Historic & Botanic Garden Training Programme in 2017 and spent a wonderful year learning about cut flower growing and selling, at the Red House in Essex as part of the Work & Retrain as a Gardener Scheme, in 2014.