Before we started, this garden was just a green square of lawn, there was no depth, no involvement with any sense of place.
By the time we finished, you couldn't help but be involved. This space has a character and identity which draws you in. It harmonizes with the contemporary feel of the converted barn and the character of the clients.
Garden design, or rather the spaces that result from garden design, can and should be of fundamental, life-enhancing benefit for those who embark upon this process. I believe it is of far greater importance than we might at first imagine.
People tend to assume that garden design is no more than a trendy indulgence, and for some it no doubt is, but that would be missing the point.
In today's fast world, garden design is essentially a tool for relieving personal stress. It is about creating spaces that are private, where we express ourselves, free from the constraints of outer expectations and pressures, free from work, free from stress. By designing a garden in which can retreat from the outer world we can, for a time, find something of our inner selves.
Garden design is riding on a wave of popularity, brought about by unprecedented levels of TV coverage. This has brought many benefits and opened people up to trying new ideas. However, it also brings dangers. TV is all about visual presentation and instant on-screen impact. Gardens are different, they grow and mature over time. Style without substance does not, in my experience, stand the test of time.
You have to understand, therefore, that there are different layers to garden design. All are important and they have to be applied in the right order: function comes first and style come last. To a great extent, a space which is designed to fulfill the functions required of it, can then have any style applied, as the last layer.
If you grasp this single fact, then any act of garden design you attempt will become more profound because of it. I humbly suggest that the effects of such processes - and we are talking about the process of creation here - will touch your inner being in ways you will not perhaps anticipate. Outward creation can even lead to inner contentment.