OUR ETHOS
Established in 2017, we are a creative, plant-loving duo who specialise in solution orientated garden design for private and commercial clients in Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. We are passionate about creating spaces that are beautiful, purposeful and sensitive to their location. We understand the importance of integrating the house into the garden and the garden into its setting, so that each are enhanced and enriched by the other.
Our designs are unashamedly rich in planting. Whilst terraces can be essential and pergolas often desirable, what really brings a garden to life is the quality of the planting design and choice of plants. As horticultural specialists this is a challenge we relish. Working as a team we understand the value collaboration can bring and enjoy working closely with our clients, taking time to understand their needs, listening to their aspirations and ultimately creating gardens that they love and are a pleasure to spend time in.
Sophie Fitch
BA (Hons) Art History, National Diploma in Horticulture, Post grad in Residential Landscape Architecture (Oxford College of Garden Design)
A passionate and experienced plantswoman, Sophie started her professional life working in the quintessentially English Country garden of Gravetye Manor in West Sussex where she became Assistant Head Gardener. Prior to that she had qualified with a National Diploma in Horticulture including work experience at Kew Gardens.
After moving to Suffolk to bring up a family, Sophie continued to work with a number of private commissions. Keen to develop her design skills and her innate sense of colour and form, she enrolled at the Oxford College of Garden Design where she attained a Distinction in Residential Landscape Architecture.
Sophie is always happy to get stuck in due to her love of horticulture, and is as handy with a mallet as she is skilled on the drawing board. Like the King, she is happiest when talking to plants and leaves the conversation to the communications expert, Nicole!
Nicole Freear
MA Geography (Cantab), Dip Garden Design (Writtle)
Nicole worked for many years in communications consultancy and advertising before returning to her first love of plants and gardening. With both parents horticulturalists her formative years were spent on the family nursery learning the basics of propagation and accumulating an extensive knowledge of herbaceous plants and their growth habits.
Her love of Geography provides her with a strong sense of people and place and the relationship we have with the natural and built environment. She passionately believes in the power of good design and planting to transform and enhance not just the physical space, but the emotional well being of those who experience it. Her commercial experience brings an eye for detail and valuable project management skills, ensuring budgets and deadlines are met.
When not at work, Nicole is usually found exploring other people’s gardens and chasing about the countryside with her son, husband and cocker spaniel, Jarvis.
