Arne Maynard

Central to Arne Maynard's work as a garden designer is his ability to identify and draw out the essence of a place, something that gives his gardens a particular quality of harmony and belonging. He has a holistic approach to design and believes that to succeed, a garden must relate and respond to its surrounding landscape, its history and to the buildings within and around its confines, as well as to the needs of its owners.

Bold lines and a strong architectural framework are characteristic, and hedges and walls are used to divide the gardens into separate areas and to give year-round presence and a sense of permanence. To counter-balance the formality of these lines, Arne often creates soft inner plantings of herbaceous flowers and roses that are casual, lush and expansive.

Attention to detail, both in the planting and the structure of the garden is paramount, and natural materials, from stone to timber, figure prominently and these are always sourced and selected for highest quality. Arne's designs draw on a wide range of references from architecture to garden history, and from interior design to often long-forgotten traditional crafts and techniques. He will use details such as the coping for a wall, the design of a gate or a garden building to add another dimension and bring to a garden a further layer of interest and complexity.

Most importantly, Arne practices what he preaches and is a passionate and experimental gardener. At his home in Monmouthshire he is in the process of designing and landscaping the garden around his beautiful medieval tower house.