From Weddings to Waterlilies

From Weddings to Waterlilies: Scott MacCallum meets up with Cheshire-based garden designer Jane Bingham, who made a very successful career switch a decade ago.

Jane Bingham was at one of the country’s finest wedding venues carrying out research for her role as a wedding co-ordinator, when she took a moment to gaze out of the window.

What drew her attention was to change the course of her professional life.

“I was at Bury Court, in Farnham, which had always been one of my favourite venues because of the wonderful gardens,” recalled Jane.

“Looking out on the garden had a real impact on me and persuaded me to resign from my role and retrain to become a garden designer.

I later learned that the gardens were designed by renowned English landscape designer Christopher Bradley-Hole and Piet Udolf, the well-known Dutch planting designer.”

There and then, Jane drew a line under her career and put plans in place for what was to occupy her next. She signed up for a course at Reeseheath College in Nantwich, Cheshire, and she was off.

“I decided to give up my very well-paid job and retrain. So I went to Reaseheath College and signed up for a part-time garden design course, one day a week, while I decided to set up my business, The Cheshire Garden Design Studio, at the same time so that I could be ready to take on work at the earliest possible moment,” said Jane.

Jane had not been averse to making career U-turns in a bid to find her niche. She had originally wanted to be a fashion designer, before joining the Laura Ashley Management Training Scheme.

Rising through the ranks she became a manager of the Laura Ashley shop in the Meadowhall Shopping Mall, in Sheffield, for two years before returning to her old stomping ground to work for a fabric retailer in Chester.

After that it was a job with Fried Earth tiles before that move into wedding organising where her accumulated skills in sales, management and design were put to good use.

Which leads us to Bury Court and Jane, grabbing a moment to look out of the window at the beautiful gardens, and finding herself thinking about a career in landscape design.

It is fair to say that she has not regretted that decision one bit.

“It takes time to understand what you need to do when you set up your own business. It’s a massive steep learning curve. Plus, being a garden designer requires a lot of different skills. You need to have the creative side, but you also need to have an understanding of construction and understand how gardens are built,” she explained.

Soaking up knowledge and skills like a sponge, Jane has gone on to build a reputation for designing sustainable and bio-diverse friendly gardens.

“My first ever commission was for it was a friend of my sister-in-law. They asked me to design their front garden, which they used it a lot and loved. That was a huge confidence boost for me.”

Jane has a little habit that she likes to carry out when she has finished a garden.

“What I really like to do is go onto Google Earth and look at the gardens I’ve designed because there is nothing like seeing your designs from space!”

What is the essence of a Jane Bingham garden and could we identify a Cheshire Garden Design Studio commission in a blind tasting?

“Of course, every garden is unique because the situation of every garden is different and the client is different every time. But I believe I attract a certain type of client who is keen to include as much planting as possible in their gardens and increase the biodiversity.

“They care about the environment and they’d like to, if possible, reuse materials,” said Jane, and looking at pictures of her gardens you can certainly see what she means.

“Sustainability is key. I don’t attract the type of client who wants artificial grass, hardly any planting and acres of hard landscaping.

“Most of the gardens I design are rural, or semi-rural. Not so much the urban. That said, if it is an urban or suburban client I do like to bring the countryside to the garden.”

With nearly 10 years in business behind her Jane has developed immensely as a landscaper designer.

“It’s the understanding of how a garden is built and how structures are fabricated. This has allowed me to develop an understanding of what can be achieved and this has certainly made me a better designer.”

But there is no “i” in “Landscape Designer” and collaboration is very much the key to a successful project….

Hang on, that’s not right. There is no “i” in “Landscape Architect”. No, that doesn’t work either.

Third time lucky: There is no “i” in “People who create lovely gardens” and working with an excellent and trusted landscaper is key to unlocking the potential of a garden.

“I like to work very closely with landscape contractors on more of a collaborative basis so that I can learn from them as the project progresses.

“They teach me about construction and then I can take what I’ve learned from that project on to the next project. You never stop learning and it’s made me a better designer.”

There are many excellent companies operating in the Cheshire and Wirral area and Jane tries to identify the best fit for the particular projects she has lined up.

“There’s a company called Base Squared Liberties based in Tilston, on the Welsh – English border. The owner studied sculpture at university, so he’s got a really good design eye as well as having the practical skills. It’s really good working with him.

“Then there’s Landigo and they are based in Crewe. They have built a few of my gardens and together we won an award at the APL Awards recently. Another company I work with is Butler Landscapes, based in New Whitchurch. They are actually working on a quote for me at the moment for a project in Birkenhead.”

Gone are the days of hand drawn design and even Computer Aided Design has moved on apace in recent years. Jane is very much a disciple of the new technology.

“I use a package called SketchUp. I do like it because it acts as a free drawing tool. It’s just like picking up a pencil for me now. I’ve been using it for 10 years and it’s just automatic.”

That’s just as well as anything which saves Jane time in her increasingly busy diary is a huge bonus.

“I’ve got many projects running at the same time, all at different stages. It can be anything up to a maximum of 15. At the moment I’ve got about 12 on the go, but they’re all different and some of them require more work and more input. “Others, not so much.”

Jane joined the Society of Garden Designers as a student member and has been extremely grateful to the Society and the members for their support.

The Society has different regions and there are cluster groups within each region. The groups meet up to share ideas and help each other. “I joined the cluster group in my area and it was fantastic. I got wonderful support from the experienced designers within the group.

“As time went on, I became the Cluster Leader myself, and Regional Manager, Regional Coordinator, and finally National Coordinator and sat on the National Council.

“So the tables were turned and I was helping other, younger designers,” said Jane.

Like many Landscape Designers creating show gardens and winning medals is a goal and an ambition and Jane has already experienced some success.

“The first show garden that I created was at the Tatton Flower Show. When you’re designing a garden for a show have a finite deadline and you can’t miss that deadline. That garden needs to be ready to be viewed and scrutinised by the judges.

“That’s so different from a normal client garden which is always shifting depending on lots of different factors.

“So a show garden is a big challenge. Getting everything ready and coordinated so all the deliveries arrive at the right time. Yeah, it’s a huge, it’s a huge thing.”

But worth it, as Jane has clocked up a number of successes at major Shows.

That recognition from her peers is justification enough for her to have left her previous life behind and leave her mark in a completely different field… where they can be seen from space!