the cotswold gardening school
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"I wanted to say a huge thank you for the wonderfully inspiring 10 week Garden Design course last autumn."
Briony D

"I was looking for a career change after moving areas two years ago and from my first visit to the school I was impressed by the enthusiasm and professional approach of all involved. The course involves a balance of theory and teaching, with guest lecturers adding to Caroline’s core instruction, and practical work. Feedback from ‘real’ clients has been invaluable."
Dena W
"Thank you for a totally inspiring day. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and want to begin working on my survey, planting plans and mood board straight away. There is a whole lot to learn but instead of being overwhelmed I am very excited knowing that I can take my creativity and put it into a more structured plan to help move forward."
Anita C
"I attended your garden design day course last week and I just wanted to thank you for such an enjoyable and informative day. We both loved it and felt your amazing enthusiasm was deliciously contagious. Loads of ideas now buzzing around."
Rosalie A
"I just wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed the last 10 weeks and how much I've learned from you and from the others on the course. I will miss Wednesdays at the gardening school but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again at Malvern - and to turning my design into a reality in my own garden! And hopefully to steering my career in a totally different direction as a garden designer."
Carole N
“A belated but heartfelt thank you of the super day I spent at the school a few Saturdays ago! It was a real inspiration, and I am just itching to put ideas into practice and to learn more!”
Elaine M
"Thank you so much for the very informative and interesting course I attended last Saturday, also for the delicious lunch. I’ve certainly come home with plenty of ideas – now I just need the time, energy and vision to put them into practice!"
Geraldine G
"Sending our sincere thanks for a thoroughly enjoyable day at the Garden Design group last Saturday. You honestly made the day so interesting and I was actually amazed how much material I seemed to retain! Believe me Caroline, this is very unusual for me..... :-)"
Maggie N
"I wanted to gain some underpinning knowledge about gardening. Coming to an Open Morning convinced me that the Cotswold Gardening School was a great place to learn. I chose to do the Professional Horticulture course and this became the highlight of my week, every week, for 10 weeks! The School is an inspiring place with great facilities."
Diana M
"Very many thanks for a splendid day on Saturday. The day course was just what I was looking for and I learnt a lot – happy coincidence that we both share clay soil and so it was enlightening to discover new plants which would survive it and to be reassured that some of my choices were also yours. I appreciate the amount you packed into a day’s teaching especially on such a warm day."
Jean M

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Cotswold Gardening School News And Updates On Courses


Highgrove

Caroline is honoured and very excited to have been invited to design and build the celebrity stage for the first festival to be held at the royal gardens at Highgrove. The development is going well and she has relished to opportunity to work closely with the team on 'Highgrove: The Garden Celebrated' - what a joy!

Kate Durr, who graduated from our One Year Professional Garden Design Course last year is now Creative Director of the festival and  there is a great satisfaction in seeing past students leave us and go on to do such wonderful things. If all that was not enough Caroline is so delighted to be invited to also speak at the event itself - and on her very favourite topic of professional planting design. So she gets to not only help create the stage - but to appear on it also.

She is in some extremely talented and much loved company as the celebrity speaker list includes many of her much respected gardening heroes - what an honour to be involved in the same event. The design concept for the stage is now signed off and we can get on with the task of making it real - always a most rewarding process. We hope very much to see past and present students at the event where Caroline will also being giving some workshop demonstrations and the school will have a pop-up shop with some very special offers on some of our courses as well as an exciting competition.


The Corinium Museum

We had a wonderful trip to the Corinium Museum with the One Year Garden Design students. Emma Stuart gave an extremely thorough and informative brief not only covering the all important client and site information but also interwoven with amazing mythological tales and information.

There was the chance to be inspired by the very many ancient artefacts on display - many of which are of a standard to rival The British Museum. Caroline could have listened to her all day as she brought alive ancient beliefs and traditions and her imagination was fired into a frenzy of ideas about what we could do with that great space. What an amazing opportunity for the students to design a public space and to experience the planning application process and the chance for the selected design to actually be built and feature in their future portfolios.

We are extremely grateful for this great opportunity which came about following a chance meeting at The Cheltenham Literature Festival a couple of years ago when Caroline was building a garden there. We can't wait to see what the students come up with and Caroline is tempted to have a go herself!


Slimbridge Roundabout

Many thanks to Slimbridge Parrish Council for the opportunity for our students to submit design ideas  for an application to redesign the Slimbridge roundabout. It’s early days but we are hoping that we can develop a cunning and beautiful plan to redevelop the space ( on a minimal budget) to reduce necessary maintenance of the space going forward. Our aim is to radically reduce the cost of future maintenance as well as creating something that benefits the local environment. We are proud to be invited to partake as the roundabout acts as an important feature in the local community - flagging up the gateway to The Slimbridge Wetlands Centre. Whenever we give a new student directions to the school - that roundabout features somewhere!

We adore this kind of project. Great design does not rely on weighty budgets and using only the most expensive materials - that's too easy. You don't have to be a wonderful designer to take a giant budget and an already lovely space to create beauty - anyone can do that! Great design is finding inventive and creative ways to get the very best solution possible out of a challenging or what could be perceived as an unpromising start. I think we can work some magic there.

Cotswold Garden Design Project

Very many thanks to all of the wonderful students who braved the cold to help with the planting on site earlier this year. You all did a fantastic job and the clients are delighted with the results. They have very kindly invited us all back to see the fruits - or rather flowers of our labours. This is of course the very best part - We never fail to be wowed by seeing what nature can do in only a matter of months as what we will remember as a muddy planting site is magically transformed into a beautiful garden. What a very special garden it is - we will be bringing our cameras to capture the evolution of the planting and look forward to also returning in the Autumn to add bulbs for even more seasonal interest.

Highgrove Competition

We are giving away a pair of tickets to see Caroline’s talk ‘Plant like a Professional’ at Highgrove:The Garden Celebrated at 12pm on Tuesday 12th April 2016

Just sign up to our mailing list during March and April to be in with a chance to win.

*The winner will be chosen at random from all sign-ups to the mailing list up until midnight on April 5th. The winner will be notified by email on April 6th when the tickets will be posted out.

 

Tickets are for the talk only and do not include lunch or a garden tour.

Click on the link for more information on Highgrove:The Garden Celebrated



One Year Garden Design Diploma Site Visit A great afternoon on site yesterday for the final project brief. The most amazing location with stunning views and a beautiful stone barn renovation. A sloping site presenting an interesting creative challenge.

With less than two weeks to go

the Highgrove stage is nearing completion and Caroline is getting excited about her talk on 12th April



Congratulations Jane Grimes & Sue Parry current One Year Garden Design students

Jane’s project 3 master plan with Sue’s additions has now been accepted and signed off by the Corinium Museum. The next exciting stage will be their design forming part of the planning application. Sue and Jane will also be employed as consultants going forward with the project. All this before they have even graduated.

Highgrove: The Garden Celebrated an amazing experience for all.


A very special thank you to all of our fantastic student volunteers who helped to build and plant up the

speakers’ stage and man our pop up shop during the show itself. We couldn’t have done it without you. We received a fantastic reaction to the stage and our contribution to the show. Caroline loved being one of the speakers and working with the whole team at Highgrove.

One Year Garden Design: Project 3 The Corinium Museum Update

RHS Malvern Spring Festival.


Congratulations to our graduates achieving medals at this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

Ten Week Garden Design Graduates Emily Sharpe and Nikki Hollier


Emily received a silver gilt medal for her main show garden and Nikki a silver medal for her festival garden

Two People’s Choice Awards. Not only did one year garden design graduate Martyn receive a bronze medal but both he and Nikki were awarded the prestigious People’s Choice Award for their gardens at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival. Wyvale Nurseries Open Day. Caroline Tatham and Kate Durr created some beautiful Chelsea-inspired planting displays using great quality Wyvale plants and along with invited students had a wonderful day talking planting and design trends. Congratulations To All Of This Year’s Graduating Students. And also a great big thank you to everyone who came to the champagne reception private view and the open afternoon, lovely to see so many people at the school.

Christmas is Fast Approaching

Get in the mood with one of our very popular Christmas wreath making workshops - hurry places are booking up fast. Please see the Day Courses & Workshops tab on the home page for more information and to book.

Looking for a lovely gift idea? Get a loved one a fab Christmas present by giving them one of our day course or workshop gift vouchers. It comes with a presentation pack and brochure. Click on the Gift Vouchers tab on the home page for more information.