Simple, beautiful garden design

that won’t cost the earth.

Award winning garden design

”James’s scheme is joyous and creates a wonderful sense of place"

Alistair Baldwin, Landscape Architect and Garden Designer. Director, AWB Associates

AWARDS

2024. Winner of the West Dean Trustees’ Prize School of Design award for outstanding achievement by a Design student

2023. Winner of the West Dean Grand Design Award, awarded by renowned garden designer Alistair Baldwin

How Kemp Garden Design can help.

Master plan for a new front drive in Oxfordshire.

  • Is your garden in need of a refresh?

  • Do you want to change your garden’s layout, planting, or hard landscaping to give your garden a lift?

  • Would you like a lovely planting plan, or help creating a dry garden, or dining area?

  • Or do you want to create a beautiful garden but don’t know where to start?

From design to refresh your garden to full scale re-designs, Kemp Garden Design can help.

About me and my approach

I’m an award winning garden designer based near Oxford, and graduate of the KLC School of Design in London in 2023. My final project won two awards: the prestigious West Dean Grand Design Award, and the overall West Dean top design prize - the Trustees’ Prize for outstanding achievement by a Design student.

My approach to designing a garden is to create simple, beautiful gardens that won’t cost the earth. A garden you can relax into, and which feels as if it had always been there.

If I had to describe my style, it would be modern, simple, with an eye for gorgeous planting and creating wildlife habitats.

My aim is to design simple, beautiful gardens that won’t cost the earth.

Garden design services

We will begin with a phone call or a visit, to get to know you and your garden. The aim at this stage is to understand what you’re hoping for, what you want to do in the garden, and to develop a idea of the ‘look and feel’ you’re hoping for, i.e. to develop the brief together.

Choose from these services:

  • Garden design

  • Planting design

  • Garden refresh

If you’re not sure, our initial conversation will clarify which service works best for you. And if you change your mind during a project, from a garden refresh to a redesign for example, that’s fine too. The process and how we manage changes will be crystal clear throughout.

  • The full garden design service begins with a visit to get to know your preferences, hopes, and budget, and to understand your garden’s particular situation. I'll then develop visuals to communicate the concept for you. Once agreed, I will produce the master plan, planting plans, materials, furniture, and lighting. Then finally, once all of the details are settled, I will produce technical details for contractors.

  • If you want help to make an existing bed or border joyful and interesting all year round, or to attract pollinators and birds, then this is the right service. I would visit your garden to understand more about your wishes, and the bed or border’s situation, i.e. light, soil type, moisture, etc. Then develop a planting palette with you, and planting plans.

  • You may want to refresh rather than redesign your garden. Perhaps you want a relaxing space to eat, or want to breathe new life into a neglected part of your garden. The process is the same as for a re-design, but with a lighter touch.