catherine clancy garden design

We moved into our house with a small garden after living for twenty years in our old house with a very large garden. We wanted a smaller, manageable garden, one which we could entertain in with a lovely patio and gorgeous plants. Catherine gave us that and more. She has wonderful vision and helped create a stunning garden for both sitting in and entertaining in. Her knowledge on plants is second to none and she listened to what we were after and came up with a beautiful design. Her team are also fabulous, hard working and creative..

After a lot of consideration, years of procrastination and 'making do' with our sizeable but ultimately difficult to maintain garden, we finally decided to work with Catherine, and are so very glad we did. Catherine spent a good amount of time discussing our needs, identifying and challenging our ideas robustly while suggesting alternatives that proved more imaginative and ultimately suited our needs better. She provided detailed drawings, patiently guiding us through how the process of building would progress and critically, introduced us to a landscaper who could not have been more appropriate (terrace with no rear access - no problem) and trustworthy. Some of the critical stone laying work was performed while we were on holiday which we were fairly nervous about - the landscaper sent us images of progress and called to confirm decisions when needed. Catherine also performed site visits while we were away to verify that design was being followed, including the lighting, watering system and power supply for a future garden office as a future add-on. We needn't have been concerned. We now have an incredible, easy to maintain, practical yet stunning garden that we enjoy more than we ever did previously, and it is a pleasure to look out on to it every day, even during the winter. There's still a great sense of satisfaction that we were able to find someone who added so much extra value to our garden vision and has made it a stand out feature of our home. Thanks Catherine!

We have a small back garden in Greenwich that we had not really used in the four years since we moved in. An old shed took up much of the space and the rest of the garden was planted with large trees and bushes, leaving little available space to enjoy. We asked Catherine to design a patio garden that we could spend lots of time in and have various areas for entertaining. She came up with a really excellent solution that maximized the available space and gave us both a seating and dining area. Importantly there was also lots of room for planters that have a really nice mix of flowers, plants and trees. We worked closely with her to finalise the design and then used a garden landscaper that Catherine had used before and rated highly. This worked perfectly as he and his team were excellent, produced a very high quality finish and liaised at all stages with Catherine to iron out any issues. We could not be happier with the result – we spend as much time as possible in the garden now and have had lots of friends round to enjoy it.

Catherine was very collaborative on our garden design from the beginning. She gave great solutions to a long wish list of ideas, and managed to create multiple spaces within a smaller garden. The whole transformation is incredible, and feels far bigger than you would think was possible with the space. We are incredibly pleased with the results and highly recommend Catherine's services. We enjoyed working closely with Catherine and the recommended landscapers, sharing ideas and learning throughout the process, all while having fun!

We chose Catherine to redesign both our front and back gardens after seeing some of her work online. Catherine was a pleasure to work with and had transformed our neglected garden into a gorgeous outdoor space that we can use for both socialising and relaxing. The sloping garden is now in terraces, with a couple of seating and eating areas and beautiful planting. Catherine listened to what we wanted and then came up with some great ideas - she was happy to make adjustments and oversaw the whole process. Bes landscapes - the contractors that Catherine recommended - were equally fantastic and the whole process ran very smoothly. Nothing was too much trouble for Catherine - including ordering some garden furniture for us earlier this year. We love it!

I employed Catherine's Garden Design Services to totally re-design my front garden to create an impactful, garden to compliment my home which I had recently had renovated. I was very keen to work with a locally-based business and am so glad I did. Catherine took time to discuss my requirements & creative inspiration and created the most wonderful design taking all of this into consideration. This included the hard landscaping, lighting, irrigation & of course the planting layouts. Catherine was an absolute pleasure to work with, responsive & highly professional she guided me on every step of the journey and oversaw the planting day. She has created the garden of my dreams, I really could not be happier and therefore highly recommend her services.

We found Catherine via an online search, where we loved the look of some previous projects she had worked on, and were encouraged by the favourable reviews. We sought Catherine’s help primarily to completely remodel and redesign our 30mx15m front garden, which was previously a wasted, unusable and ugly space consisting of an excessively large pebble driveway, wood chipping, and some mature trees. We had thought long and hard how to transform the area, but couldn’t figure out the practicalities. Catherine listened to our thoughts and ideas and quickly came back to us with some clever solutions and plans. The area is now transformed and unrecognisable. It was not just the just use of space that was so impressive, but also the attractive planting, and in particular a creative and inspired idea for a stone path to gently bend through the middle of the garden to the front door. Catherine’s work has made every time we come home a genuine pleasure. In addition to the front garden, we also had Catherine’s input into some minor reworking of the back garden, where we are similarly happy with the results. We have a little more that needs doing to it, and we’re looking forward to working with Catherine again. The one error we made was not using the landscape gardeners that Catherine usually works with, thinking we could save quite a bit of money getting someone else who could do the job (on the face of it) substantially cheaper. The company we used was chaotic, overran, caused daily stress and inevitably ended up substantially more expensive than originally quoted. Despite the landscape gardeners also being very difficult to deal with on a personal level, Catherine showed admirable force of personality to ensure the gardeners stuck to the design and did their work with sufficient quality, even though it wasn’t her job to project manage them. We’d highly recommend using Catherine - she is a pleasure to work with.

We are incredibly grateful to Catherine. She created a functional yet beautiful space for our family. Our garden was covered with cement, pebbles and old fashioned flower beds that took up all the space. It was awkward and dangerous for a small child. We weren’t able to use it at all and in fact barely ever went there for 5 years that we’ve lived in this house. It seemed hopeless and we almost made peace with not having any outside space. From our very first conversation, Cathrine immediately had a clear idea of what was actually possible to achieve; and it really took quite a leap of imagination to figure out how to transform that space. Catherine redesigned the space completely with incredible professionalism. She is very knowledgeable and understands what will work, while being very open and listening very carefully to what the client wants to achieve. She then somehow, almost by magic, married what was practically feasible with our hopes and wishes and came up with a stunning result. Catherine is very approachable and generous with her availability and advice, and goes above and beyond to achieve the desired effect. She spent quite a lot of time looking for the tree in the right size and shape - I was truly surprised and am very grateful considering the lenghts she went to for the project. While being imaginative and spot-on from the point of view of design, Catherine was also very aware of our budget as well as timing issues, and executed the project smoothly, making use of what was already in the garden to keep the cost within the budget. Catherine has contacts for all the professionals you will need to create your garden, including a fantastic team of landscapers. Both Catherine and the landscapers were simply amazing. They worked flexibly to make the project work alongside our house renovations which interfered to a degree with their work. The final result exceeded all our hopes and expectations. We love the new space and feel almost like we moved to a new house, this time to one with a garden. Our one year old loves it too and wants to go there all the time. Thank you!

Following a modern extension project on our Victorian house we finally gained an extensive view of our garden. We therefore wanted a garden design to reflect the more open feel of the house, whilst maintaining privacy from the neighbouring houses which we had enjoyed previously, and keep the local foxes out!. Catherine fulfilled the brief perfectly and came up with a wonderful stylish design with slatted wooden fencing on top of our wall, colour matched to the door frames, and brick walled borders planted with semi mature trees and shrubs. Catherine designed the planting scheme whilst taking into account requests from both my husband and I for the few plants we can actually name, or at least describe. Catherine recommended & supervised a brilliant landscaper & his team and before we knew it we had a gorgeous new garden which is looking more lovely by the week.

We're so delighted with our new front and back gardens. Catherine has been absolutely superb. She took on board everything we wanted and has helped us transform the gardens on budget and on time. She worked to tight schedules and has continued to offer us help and advice as and when needed. I couldn't be more pleased and grateful. Highly recommended!

Catherine took the time to get to know us both at the pre-design stage to give us a garden which reflected us, our lifestyle and our low maintenance requirements, outdoor living whilst giving us the wow-factor to the garden. She transformed what had been ‘dead space’ behind out kitchen/side return into amazing floating steps ensuring good views from all angles and windows. Our old boring brown shed was transformed into a lovely summer house. She used curves in the edging to the grass and the design elongated our garden. It truly was the most amazing transformation. We would not hesitate to recommend Catherine.

Catherine is both creative and practical - she's helped us achieve front and back gardens that look lovely but also work well with the demands of family life. She was really easy to work with and happy for me to get stuck in with choosing plants and planting up, whilst taking all the hard landscaping headache off my hands. The gardens just keep getting better - we get so many compliments! I'd wholeheartedly recommend her.