I hold an honours degree in physical geography, which is occasionally of use in design work. I know about soil structure and chemistry, and about slope morphology and so on. Of more relevance I hold a post-graduate diploma (with distinction) in garden design from the Pickard School of Garden Design, run by Christopher Pickard, who is a past president of the Society of Garden Designers. I have always gardened and have a good gardener’s understanding of plants and planting, but to upgrade my professional skills I took the RHS General Certificate in Horticulture. Just so you know what you’re getting: I’m in my (very) early forties, married with two young children. I drink more coffee than is good for me. I play rugby badly for my village side most weeks, and ski and snowboard a bit better when I can afford it. I’ve attached some of my thoughts on my work, design, gardens and life in general in the ‘blog’ page, which I update regularly. I’ve always been interested in design of all sorts – when I was a kid I wanted to be an architect but gave up on it when I was told I wasn’t good enough at physics. I started designing gardens for friends pretty much by accident during the nineties, and realised fairly early on that while my ideas were sound I needed training in business practice - I needed a professional qualification. So I went and got one. I set up my own part time design practice while completing my diploma. People seemed to like what I did, and I had enough work to design full time in 2002.