IN BUSINESS

Beyond Borders

An innovative Yorkshire-based school of garden design is opening its doors later this year. We meet its award-winning founder, Alistair Baldwin

orkshire already boasts some of the country’s finest gardens, both traditional and innovative. And this autumn an exciting new garden design school will open to budding northern designers. It will be based in the inspiring surroundings of Harewood House, renowned for its 120 acres of gorgeous gardens set within a magnificent ‘Capability’ Brown landscape.

The Yorkshire School of Garden Design is the brainchild of Richmond-based landscape architect Alistair Baldwin, whose consultancy, Alistair W Baldwin Associates, has undertaken a string of prestigious projects both locally and nationwide. Northern highlights of their impressive portfolio include the delightful Rose Gardens at Wynyard Hall and the stunning new flower garden – and restored historic Japanese strolling garden – at Grantley Hall.

Alistair, a Chelsea Show Garden medal winner who studied garden design at Leeds, traces his passion for landscape design back to his childhood. “My father was in the Foreign Office and as children we were lucky enough to be exposed to some amazing landscapes in Spain, Italy, Syria and the Lebanon. From an early age I knew I wanted to spend my working life outside, making things.”

DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT

So what decided Alistair on the idea of the Yorkshire School of Garden Design? “I spent twelve years as an academic at Leeds Metropolitan University before becoming director of a landscape design firm in York and subsequently setting up my own practice. I loved teaching, and I really miss it. It’s very much a two-way thing, and you learn so much from your students!

“Whilst there are currently a limited number of places where you can study garden design here in the North I’m keen to offer students something rather different.

“I have my own particular approach to teaching garden design, based on the principle that everyone designs in their own way. Garden design is an art, and you can’t simply tell someone how to be an artist. For me, teaching garden design is about drawing out each individual student’s potential, creating talented, individualistic designers who follow their own vision rather than just following a set recipe.

“I think it’s the ideal approach for designers who will be working here in the North – which is why I wanted the word ‘Yorkshire’ in the school’s name. The client base here in Northern England is distinctly different from that in the South, and I want our courses to reflect that.”

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

The school’s flagship Diploma in Garden Design course has been devised to equip students with all the design, technical, business and communication skills needed to start their own practice or join the team of an established designer.

There will be two days of contact per week during term time. One will consist of lectures, workshops, seminars or field visits led by Alistair and his team of talented, top-flight professional designers. On the second day students will design in a studio environment and receive oneto-one tuition and feedback from tutors.

As well as the one-year Diploma the school will be offering an exciting variety of short courses for aspiring practitioners, established designers and enthusiastic amateurs.

If you’re considering becoming a garden designer, An Introduction to Garden Design will provide an outline of the basic principles and give you a taste of what to expect from the Diploma course.

For designers with their sights set on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Designing and Delivering a Show Garden will bring students together with medal-winning designers, contractors and nurseries for two days of discussion and workshops covering all aspects of getting a design accepted and built. And for keen amateur gardeners, Designing with Plants: The Know-How behind the Beauty and Seasonality and Layering: Planting for a YearRound Display will teach you how to transform your own outdoor space into the kind of picture-perfect vision that you see in garden and lifestyle magazines – with the beautiful setting of Harewood House and a trip to the nearby York Gate Garden to give you inspiration.

“I knew I wanted to spend my working life outside, making things.”

The school is clearly a project that Alistair is intensely passionate about. “Making gardens involves a combination of collaboration, conversation and the face-to-face exchange of ideas,” he says. “I’m very excited to be launching the school to shine a light on the garden design talent of the North, as we emerge from a time of reflection and renewed connection with the places in which we live.”

For more information about the Yorkshire School of Garden Design visit ysgd.co.uk. For information about Alistair W Baldwin Associates landscape architecture and garden design practice visit alistairwbaldwin.co.uk