For someone whose life is built around the creation of beautiful gardens, Annie Guilfoyle has remarkably itchy feet. She teaches several prestigious garden design courses in this country, including at West Dean and Great Dixter, but also lectures as far afield as Pennsylvania and Poland.
She is an obsessive Italophile and travels there annually for the Bergamo landscape festival (she’s on the selection committee), to run workshops, and at any other opportunity she gets. She designs gardens up and down the country, and the Garden Masterclass events she runs with garden writer Noel Kingsbury only add to her mileage.
“I have always loved to travel, to go to new places and meet interesting people,” she says. “I grew up on Exmoor in the middle of nowhere, which was very beautiful but isolated. When you start life somewhere like that, you know that you will have to get out and make an effort.”
As a child she treated school as a social club, and all her reports said that she would do well if only she would stop talking so much. Instead, she left before sixth form, and trained as a riding instructor. “Horses were my passion at that stage, even though I had to walk two miles just to ride one. I dreamed of competing at the Badminton Horse Trials, but in my heart I knew it was never going to happen, so after a couple of years I decided to get out and see the world instead.”
Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Gardens Illustrated.
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Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Gardens Illustrated.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Field of Dreams - The naturalistic gem Hans Gieszen has created in former meadowlands near Utrecht in the Netherlands is the culmination of a lifelong passion
Ever since his mother gave him seeds as a small boy, gardening has been a passion for Hans Gieszen. He is completely self-taught, relying on garden visits and books for instruction, with one book in particular, Dream Plants for the Natural Garden by Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf, influencing his style. “It was fascinating,” says Hans, remembering his first encounter with the book. “All those photos – pictures with mists and these tall and low plants and grasses. I realised I couldn’t do it in my small garden, but I kept dreaming and reading about it.”
WORLD OF POSSIBILITY
This superb tour of the world's botanical gardens highlights their vital role in saving the planet's flora, says Claire Masset
THE FEMININE TOUCH?
Does your garden have masculine or feminine style, and does it even matter? Head gardener Benjamin Pope unpicks gardening's gender stereotypes
'If you emulate nature, you're on to a winner'
Gardener, television presenter and author Carol Klein talks about her new book, the books she loves, her current challenges and what she's up to next
FRIENDLY ADVICE
When tasked with creating a garden for her friends, designer Neive Tierney found the project came with challenges - not least the need to include a wheelchair ramp and squeeze in a saltwater swimming pool
Passing the baton
The celebrated nursery and garden at Marchants Hardy Plants in East Sussex is now being managed by a new team, who continue to inspire visitors with innovative planting
My sweet gourd
Clark Lawrence, an American living in the heart of Italy's pumpkin province, loves growing different cultivars of pumpkins and ornamental gourds for their sweet flavours and fabulous looks
ANDY JASPER
The new CEO of the Eden Project on his excitement about a new chapter, the legacy he's left at the National Trust and his joy at heading home to Cornwall
Bedding in
In just under nine years, the owners of Arvensis Nursery in Wiltshire have created a mature garden that displays their high-quality perennials
Late summer dreams
From cool pastels and foliage to hot colours, designer Jo Thompson creates three stylish container combinations for autumn