b"a landmark anniversary lockdown @ rivermead2021 sees us celebrating 25 years of creativity following the The dramatic news, in March 2020, that we were to With garden centres shut during the first lockdown thebirth of The Garden Design Company Ltd on 1st May 1996. stay at home was completely unprecedented and a clamour for young plants was huge, but so too was theLooking back, it was a bold move, for whilst gardens have distressing time for many. However it also created a demand for help from Charities like Berkshire Women'sbeen created for 1000s of years, designing and creating fabulous opportunity to start sowing cut flowers and veg Aid, Oxfam and Medical Aid for Palestinians.gardens was really only for the few, even back in the 1990s. plants for some clients and myself.Many of our now established suppliers and nurseries were So rather than selling individual plants from my gardenalso starting out back then and it has been an honour to So harnessing the power of my iPhone, I turned to gate as I usually do, I advertised a box scheme of 12develop and grow with them. Instagram, to do some short sharp videos explaining young plants for a suggested online donation of 25.how to sow, prick out, grow and nurture flowers and Two months later, and we had raised over 2500, andveg for even the smallest plot. sold a similar number of plants.How it happenedAs people thought about the idea of gardening, It really was a win-win. We satisfied a huge demandI left the law behind in 1991 to study garden design and sometimes for the first time, hundreds were watching from people desperately seeking an activity to keephorticulture. It was with a desire to deliver a professional my videos within a few weeks. Whilst acknowledging them sane and wanting to grow their own, whilst at theservice and nurture relationships, with both people and that I was not as popular as Joe Wicks, I soon realised I same time benefiting three fabulous charities.plants, that paved the way for The Garden Design Co today. had 1500 young plants growing on, and over 1000followers on Instagram!And what a journey it has been. I have learnt so much fromso many, and developed a passion for growing your own,alongside minimising the impact we have on our planet.The Garden Design Company todayWhilst we have long worked with a wide variety of talentedself-employed designers, we now boast our own incrediblein-house designer Jess, a landscape architect with another25 years experience. Ce yl te ib vCAD or hand drawn, small or large, instant or implemented r e ia tt aover time, the quality of our one-stop solution where we ing of crcan both design and build, sets us apart. 25 yearsA million thank yousBut I could not have done this without a really Top left: Millie inspecting the plants. | Top right: .or didunderstanding wife and family. Claire probably wondered if she just spot an opportunity to be on the front page? |it was just a whim, whilst the kids realised from a young Bottom left: Green house full of plants. | Bottom right:age that a trip out with Dad usually meant a site visit. Getting bigger!So, to the team of designers who trust me to deliver, to thein-house team who create, plant and maintain the gardens,to my suppliers who responded so positively to thechallenge of Covid - thank you for your support!And of course, last but very much not least thank you to myclients - now good friends, and some of whom I first dranktea with 20+ years ago. There are not many villages in theThames Valley where a warm cuppa does not await.In any event I hope that you enjoy reading what has kept usbusy during the unique year that was 2020.Rob Top: A lawyers early foray into his firstgrowbag circa 1988 | Bottom: Alex relishing asite visit.berkshirewomensaid.org.uk | map.org.uk/ | oxfam.org.uk/"