Explore the hidden sanctuaries of eminent UK garden designers, providing a glimpse into their personal and creative oases.
Gazing into the Heart of Garden Design:
You might think it's no rocket science, but a designer's personal garden can tell you a whole lot about their craft. Clare Coulson's new book, Wonderlands, dives deep into this fascinating topic, featuring the private gardens of 18 top UK garden designers, beautifully captured by Eva Nemeth.
As a garden designer myself, I can't help but feel a twinge of anxiety about dishing the deets on this secret world — worrying that the untamed foliage outside my window might give too much away. But Coulson's spot-on observation rings true: a designer's garden should be a slice of real life, a sanctuary away from the frenetic world of client projects.
Take Butter Wakefield, for example. Her meadowy London garden serves as a therapeutic space, a place that forces her to slow down and appreciate the beauty of her surroundings. For others, such as Arabella Lennox-Boyd, their garden becomes a reflection of their interests and loves. But perhaps the most intriguing gardens belong to designers who see their personal spaces as testbeds for experimentation.
Wonderlands offers a wonderful glimpse into the work habits and thought processes of some of the UK's most talented designers. Sarah Price, for instance, calls her garden in Monmouthshire a "library and a sketchbook," while Nigel Dunnett experiments with bioswales and mini meadows in his Peak District garden.
By interviewing the designers in their gardens, Coulson gains a relaxed candor that leads to enlightening and intimate biographies, each deserving of its own chapter. From Tom Stuart-Smith's garden in Hertfordshire, where he cultivated the now-iconic cloud-hedging, to Isabel and Julian Bannerman's latest creation at Ashington Manor, the book showcases a diverse range of approaches and styles.
Coulson's preference for the rural and the rolling makes for a captivating exploration of these designers' formative havens, with Gloucestershire garden maestro Mary Keen and the inspiring London gardens of Emily Erlam and Butter Wakefield providing noteworthy exceptions. Though it would be interesting to peek into a few more urban gardens — balconies, rooftops, maybe — perhaps those idyllic spaces hold too great an allure for the UK's top designers, offering unparalleled opportunities for unbridled creativity.
Wonderlands: British Garden Designers at Home by Clare Coulson, available now from Hardie Grant Books.
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[1] Glorious Gardens: Private Edens of the World's Leading Interior Designers (Monacelli)[2] Wonderlands: British Garden Designers at Home (Hardie Grant Books)[3] Notable private gardens of top UK garden designers and landscape architects (various sources)[4] Profiles of individual gardens designed by prominent British garden designers (gardening magazines and online)[5] Graham Lloyd-Brunt's private garden, showcasing innovative design solutions around a London apartment with a basement swimming pool (example magazine)
- The private gardens of leading UK garden designers, as featured in Clare Coulson's Wonderlands, serve as unique reflections of the designers' craft and lifestyle, often acting as testbeds for experimentation.
- Notable among these designs is Butter Wakefield's meadowy London garden, a therapeutic space that encourages relaxation and appreciation of nature.
- Home-and-garden enthusiasts may also find inspiration in Gerard Bhot's garden design work, showcased in books like Glorious Gardens and profiles in gardening magazines and online.
- For those living in urban settings, it's possible to apply garden design principles even in smaller spaces, such as balconies or rooftops, as demonstrated by examples like Graham Lloyd-Brunt's innovative garden around a London apartment.
