MEET THE TEAM
For over 20 years, our team of garden and landscape design experts has been seeing things differently.
We see outdoor space as places with exciting possibilities. Everything we do begins with you and your needs. From design conception, to completion and beyond, our studio is proud of the meticulous attention given to each and every one of our clients’ needs. We have the expertise, experience and ambition to make your vision a reality.
Let’s talk about how we can make your project an exciting reality.
www.ann-mariepowell.com
email: info@ann-mariepowell.com
tel: +44 (0) 1730 825650
Ann-Marie Powell founded her practice Ann-Marie Powell Gardens in 1999 after travelling the world admiring landscapes, then gaining a distinction in NCH Garden Design & Hard Landscape Studies. Since then she has become one of the UK’s most innovative garden designers, creating ground-breaking and uplifting gardens backed by experience.
Alongside heading her successful studio, she has authored three books on garden design and writes regularly for National magazines and newspapers including The Telegraph, Gardens Illustrated and The English Garden. She has also co-hosted TV coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and numerous TV gardening shows.
When she’s not working, you’ll find her in her own garden…. or at a festival, theatre, gallery or concert. After all, life is for living.
Click here for Ann-Marie’s full biography.
Mary trained at the prestigious KLC School of Design at Hampton Court Palace, graduating in 2016 with a distinction and winning two awards, for Residential Garden Design and the London Stone Award for Construction. Before that, Mary studied at Ryton Organic Gardens (the home of Garden Organic, one of the UK’s leading organic growing charities) and under their expert tutelage, obtained the RHS Certificate in Practical Horticulture (Level 2).
Growing up on a farm in Hampshire, Mary has always loved getting her hands dirty in the garden. Life then went in a different direction; a degree in Biochemistry from Oxford University, followed by a law conversion. But after 10 years practicing as a solicitor specialising in intellectual property, she realised it was her clients who were having all the creative fun, and she knew it was time for a change.
In 2015 she joined Le Cure de France, cycling one and a half times the height of Everest in four days, to raise money for the Royal Marsden’s Cancer Research charity. Two weeks later Mary had handed in her notice and enrolled with KLC, the rest is history! (She has not ridden her bike since.)
Gemma Summerfield’s Fine Art BA Hons at Nottingham Trent University found her exploring nature and landscape through a series of installation pieces and photography (inspirations included Anya Gallaccio, Richard Long and Rachel Whiteread).
Throughout her course, she was increasingly drawn to the wonders of the natural and developed a keen interest in that intrinsic human need to connect with the world around them. On graduation, this desire drove her to apply to Greenwich University to study for a Masters in Landscape Architecture, completing her studies in 2007.
The raw landscape of Australia drew her to study and work as a Landscape Architect there, before returning to the UK to a position at Randle Siddeley, then as Associate Landscape Architect for a leading London Design and Build company for the next seven years.
Gemma became chartered as a Landscape Architect in 2012.
Today she continues to explore the synergy between art, landscape and people through her garden and landscape designs.
Outside of work, she has an on-off relationship with exercise (!!) but still aspires to one day complete an Iron Man triathlon, and get the accompanying official tattoo of course!
Junior Landscape Architect Penny grew her first plant when she was just three years old, fast graduating to sweet peas, tomatoes, and runner beans, diligently ‘helping’ in her grandma’s garden too (much of which was spent running around spraying her grandpa with the hose!)
A career in landscape was always her goal, and at just 14 she submitted a design to build a 3x3m garden at Gardener’s World Live in 2014, she and her family growing all her plants, resulting in her being awarded a RHS Bronze Medal. The following year she was invited by the RHS to design another 3x3m garden at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and was awarded a coveted RHS Silver-Gilt Medal, all whilst achieving 10 GCSEs alongside!
A Levels, then university were next, and after three years of all-nighters, stress, and far too much pizza, she was awarded a 1st Class Degree BA Landscape Architecture from University of Gloucestershire, followed swiftly by a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the same University – her dissertation focused on mitigating climate change in designed urban spaces.
When not working you can typically find Penny visiting a garden with her camera taking an exorbitant number of photos. Most of which end up deleted!
Having successfully run her own award-winning interiors business for many years, in 2021 Catharine felt it time to apply for a Diploma in Garden Design; finally satisfying her craving to combine her passion for design with a lifelong love of nature and gardens.
Her strong work ethic and ambition to succeed saw her achieve a distinction in her Diploma from the renowned KLC School of Design at The Design Centre in Chelsea in 2022. She was also awarded the coveted London Stone Award for Construction.
When not designing gardens, Catharine can be found planning and planting up her (huge!) new allotment, while simultaneously trying to prevent the local rabbit population from eating all her hard work before she does!
Call for a chat!
For more information or to talk through your ideas for a new garden project:
Call: +44 (0) 1730 825650
Email: info@ann-mariepowell.com