|
Following my degree in Biochemistry with Animal Physiology, I started my working life as an NHS biochemist in London at The National Poison's Unit. Following this I became a biomedical researcher and gained a PhD in Pharmacology at Newcastle University Medical School.
Deciding to stay in the area, but not as an academic, I worked as an analytical chemist for a pharmaceutical manufacturer. This was too unimaginative an environment for me and I left with a view to being a mum for a few years and to think about what I really wanted to do. In the meantime, I would catch up on my gardening...
The Harrogate Spring Flower Show Student Garden Design Competition is really responsible for my decision to become a garden designer. I walked around and thought that most of the designs, if made into gardens, would be really trashed by your average small boy (first-hand knowledge). I had been reading about design for years, and believed that all designers had to be wildly artistic creative types. Now I suddenly realised that it was not so much 'creativity' alone, but instead, having a practical and problem-solving nature would be needed to be a successful designer for real people. I could do it!
Houghall College provided me with a stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable re-training. I now have a City & Guilds in Garden Design, A BTEC National Award in Horticulture (Garden Design) and The RHS Advanced Certificate in Horticulture, most at Distinction level. (Happily, I found that having learnt Latin from age 5 to 8 was a great bonus to learning botanical names!) I started re-training in 2003; and started working as a designer in 2004, partway through my courses.
I find the whole experience of creating a garden exciting, rewarding, daunting and thoroughly addictive. I love meeting new clients, creating beautiful and satisfying gardens for them, and leaving not just as their designer, but as their friend. When a garden can take over a year from first meeting to final planting, the process is enhanced by the exchange of knowledge and information in a friendly and open-minded atmosphere. Simply, it can be great fun.
|
