Designing gardens in Surrey, London, and elsewhere — projects shaped by what the place is, how it’s lived in, and what it asks for through the seasons.
Taking on a select number of projects each year.
I come and see the garden. We walk it together and decide what makes sense from there. Free of charge.
A planting plan, a fuller design, or a continued involvement with the garden as it develops — depending on what the project asks for.
Full design for residential gardens — survey, concept, planting plan, materials, and oversight through the build.
Scaled planting design for a single border, bed, or area — with plant list, sourcing, and installation guidance.
Continued involvement with gardens we’ve designed, across the seasons that follow.
Each project priced on enquiry. Most begin with a first visit, free of charge.
If your garden might be one I should design,
please get in touch.
Four gardens currently in design — across Surrey, London, and elsewhere. Each at a different stage, each asking for something different. Photographed and written up as they develop.
A house being given a contemporary refurbishment, and a garden being designed to match — clean lines, considered structure, planting that bridges old and new.
The work is in the bones first: patio flow, levels, the structural planting that holds the rest together. From there, the softer layers — across the seasons that follow.
A walled, south-facing terrace garden of about forty square metres. Designed for warm afternoon light, supper outside, and a planting palette that earns its keep in a small space.
The classic small London garden — bounded, baking through summer, asking for restraint over abundance. Drought-tolerant perennials, silvery foliage, a small tree to throw considered shade.
A larger garden in development. The work is gradual and observational — reading how the wild edge wants to grow, where the lawn wants to deepen, where structure wants to settle.
Design here happens through close attention to how the place wants to develop, rather than imposing a finished scheme. The wilder edges meet the more cared-for areas around the house; the work unfolds across seasons.
An alpine garden with a substantial terrace, framing the view across the Rhône Valley to the Alps.
Currently in design — opening sightlines, simplifying the planting, designing for low maintenance and effect. The mountain does the heavy lifting; the garden gets out of its way.
Most projects begin with a first visit. From there, the next step is shaped by what the garden asks for.
Full design for residential gardens. Survey, concept, planting plan, materials, and continued involvement through the build. Designs developed through scaled drawings and 3D visualisation — refined into a buildable scheme through planting palettes, material studies, and close work alongside contractors.
Scaled planting design for a single border, bed, or area — with site visit, plant list, sourcing, and installation guidance. For a specific space, or for a whole garden being replanted slowly.
Continued involvement with gardens we’ve designed — editing, pruning, planting succession, the small considered work that lets a design grow in as intended.
A walk through the garden, in conversation. How the space is used, what feels unresolved, what it could become. Free of charge — and the right way to begin most projects.
Scaled plans and 3D visualisation, exploring structure, levels, materials, and atmosphere. Early studies that let us see the garden clearly before any building begins.
Refining dimensions, materials, planting palettes, and key details into a coherent buildable scheme. The point at which a garden moves from idea to specification.
Working alongside trusted contractors through implementation — coordinating the trades, protecting the integrity of the design, and making the small judgements that decide whether a garden becomes itself.
Most projects begin with a first visit, free of charge.
To start with a first visit, please get in touch.
Currently designing gardens in Surrey, London, and elsewhere. Training with the Royal Horticultural Society. Designs developed through scaled drawings and 3D visualisation, refined into buildable schemes through planting palettes and material studies.
My approach favours considered design, attention to flow and light, and gardens that grow into themselves over time.
I came to gardening by returning to it. After a decade in other fields, I’m building a practice around what I always came back to.
What pulls me back is the slowness. The way a garden teaches you to read a place — across the day, the seasons, the years. You learn a garden by being in it: spending time, listening, seeing what it needs, responding. It’s a conversation with nature, and every garden is its own.
I take on a select number of projects each year. If your garden feels unresolved — or you’re starting from scratch — please do get in touch.
Most enquiries lead to a first visit. If you’d like to start a conversation about your garden — please write or call.
Surrey — Dorking, Reigate, Brockham, Westcott, Mickleham, Leatherhead, Box Hill, Holmwood, Headley, Cobham, Esher, Oxshott, Weybridge, Virginia Water, Wentworth, Sunningdale, Walton-on-Thames, Guildford, Godalming, Farnham, Haslemere, Cranleigh.
London — Richmond, Barnes, Kew, Chiswick, Putney, Wandsworth, Clapham, Battersea, Fulham, Chelsea, Kensington, Holland Park, Notting Hill, Hampstead, St John’s Wood, Highgate.
Further afield by arrangement.
I’m a garden designer based in Dorking, designing residential gardens across Dorking, Brockham, Betchworth, Westcott, Mickleham, Holmwood, Box Hill, and the surrounding Mole Valley villages.
The greensand and clay belt around Dorking produces some of the most rewarding garden ground in the south-east — mature plot sizes, often sloping toward the North Downs, with the kind of inherited structure that benefits from careful editing rather than wholesale redesign. The local aesthetic, shaped by the Surrey Hills AONB, leans toward the naturalistic; gardens that look as if they belong to the landscape rather than imposed on it.
My design work for Mole Valley gardens favours the naturalistic palette — grasses, umbellifers, late-flowering perennials — alongside structural planting that holds the garden through autumn and winter. Designs developed in SketchUp and on paper, supported through build by experienced contractors.
One of the gardens currently in development is in Dorking itself — a naturalistic restoration where the design is gradual and observational: reading how the meadow edge wants to grow, how the lawn wants to deepen, how structure wants to settle into the wider Surrey Hills setting.
The usual first step is an initial visit — I come and see the garden, we walk it together, and decide what makes sense. No charge for the first visit.
The simplest first step is a phone call or short email about the garden.
Garden design across Cobham, Esher, Oxshott, Weybridge, Virginia Water, Wentworth, and Sunningdale — a part of Surrey defined by generous plots, mature gardens, and a particular kind of considered residential setting.
The Cobham, Oxshott, and Weybridge area is home to some of the largest and most carefully tended residential gardens in England. Mature trees, established hedges, and the kind of structural planting laid down decades ago by previous owners. Gardens like these often need editing rather than rebuilding — a careful design hand that understands what to keep, what to take back, and what to gently introduce.
The naturalistic palette translates beautifully to this landscape. Grasses, umbellifers, and late-flowering perennials soften the formality of older gardens without losing their structural integrity.
One of the projects currently in design is a garden in Weybridge — an old house with a reworked garden, designing through the bones (hard landscaping, levels, structural planting) before the softer work begins.
An initial visit is the most useful starting point. No charge.
Garden design across Reigate, Leatherhead, Betchworth, Brockham, Headley, and the surrounding villages on the southern edge of the North Downs.
The greensand and clay belt south of Reigate produces some of the most rewarding gardens in Surrey — generous in scale, often with mature trees, and the kind of plot history that calls for editing rather than rebuilding. The Surrey Hills AONB shapes the local aesthetic toward the naturalistic.
An initial visit is the usual first step. No charge.
Garden design across Guildford, Godalming, Farnham, Haslemere, Cranleigh, and the surrounding villages of west Surrey.
The Wealden soils around Godalming and Guildford are typically free-draining and slightly acidic — kind to grasses, salvias, and the looser perennial palettes that suit larger plots and rural-edge settings.
Most local gardens I design are between a quarter and a full acre — large enough for proper structure, considered planting, and a sense of arrival.
An initial visit is the usual first step. No charge.
Small garden design across Richmond, Barnes, East Sheen, Kew, Chiswick, and Mortlake. The London gardens I design are typically small — walled, terraced, courtyard-scale.
Most gardens I see in this part of London are between 30 and 100 square metres. Bounded by walls or fences, often east- or north-facing. What they reward is close design attention to a small palette of plants chosen for the conditions, considered structure, and a sense of intimacy.
For small London gardens, an initial visit is almost always the right first step. No charge.
Small garden design across Chelsea, Kensington, Holland Park, Notting Hill, Fulham, and the surrounding parts of west London — typically the small walled or courtyard gardens that come with Victorian and Georgian terraces.
Some of the most considered small gardens in the country are tucked behind west London terraces. Walled, intimate, often shaded for half the day, they ask for restraint and discipline rather than abundance — the kind of edited palette that earns its keep across the year.
The naturalistic register translates well here, but in a particular way: fewer species, more repetition, structural plants that hold the garden through autumn and winter.
An initial visit is the usual first step. No charge.
Small garden design across Wandsworth, Clapham, Battersea, Putney, and Fulham — typically the kind of walled or terraced garden that comes with a Victorian or Edwardian house.
The terraced and semi-detached houses across Wandsworth and Clapham tend to come with long, narrow gardens — often shaded, frequently north- or east-facing, with the kind of clay soil that needs improvement before any serious planting. They reward patience: a year of soil work and structural design, then a slow build of layered planting that comes into its own in years three and beyond.
An initial visit is the most useful starting point. No charge.