Writing – I have written two books, Modern Family Gardens and Small Family Gardens for John Wiley. I am now starting a new series of books on gardening, starting with four this year and doing more next year. I also write for magazines and newspapers such as Gardens Illustrated, The Times, The Guardian, Gardeners’ World magazine, Homes and Gardens, Kew Magazine, Junior Magazine and The Garden Design Journal and I am House Beautiful’s resident Garden Expert. I am a member of the Garden Writers’ Guild.
The Oak Studio Garden Design Ltd – I run a successful and RHS award winning garden design company, The Oak Studio Garden Design, with a partner. We design gardens mainly in Cambridgeshire, London and Essex.
Broadcasting – I have broadcast on many different radio shows and am a regular panellist on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Sunday gardening programme.
Teaching – My partner and I teach courses on garden design for several colleges in and around Cambridge. As well as the longer courses covering most aspects of design we also teach day courses on specialised subjects such as vertical planting and modern gardens.
Writtle College in Chelmsford – I trained as a garden designer at Writtle College, where I won a rarely awarded distinction for my work on the Garden Design Diploma Course.
National Trust – I spent two years working at Anglesey Abbey, an inspired 98 acre garden near Cambridge. Working every day in the gardens taught me so much I couldn’t begin to list it here – but I had a wonderful head gardener (Richard Ayers). He taught me in a very old fashioned, no nonsense way, everything from mowing to planting; from pruning to redesigning. I also worked at two other public gardens - Audley End (Saffron Walden) and Peckover House (Wisbech)
Bicton College in Devon – I was sent by the National Trust to this college for training in a wide range of subjects – fruit growing to garden history, machinery maintenance to plant biology.
Qualifications – RHS general. NVQ level 2 in amenity horticulture. Practical qualifications such aspesticide certificate.
Education – 2.1 in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University I went straight from university to news and current affairs television and produced and directed documentaries for many years
