About us
Biographies
Stephen Anderton
Stephen Anderton is an award-winning journalist, author, lecturer and broadcaster; he writes weekly in The Times and for many magazines.Previously Stephen worked in the management and maintenance of historic gardens, latterly as National Gardens Manager for English Heritage, and was responsible for the restoration of the nineteenth-century gardens at Belsay Hall, Northumberland and Brodsworth Hall, Yorkshire.
Michael Balston MA, Dip Arch, LA, RIBA, ALI
A fully qualified architect and landscape architect since the early 1970s, Michael Balston has extensive experience in landscape design from prominent urban design projects to private estates and gardens both in the UK and abroad. Since 1983, Michael has been running Balston & Company from his house and well-published garden in Wiltshire.Michael has won numerous garden medals and awards nationally and internationally for the past 20 years culminating in the Best Garden Award at the 1999 Chelsea Show and International Prizes at Ghent in the same year. He is now a judge and member of Council for the RHS and a member of the Europa Nostra Council.
Ian Hodgson
Ian Hodgson trained in horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, where
he first became interested in garden design. He subsequently read landscape
design and plant sciences, qualifying as a Landscape Architect at the University
of Sheffield.
After working in the industry he became a gardening journalist working as a technical editor on titles such as Garden News, Plants and Gardens and as editor on The Gardener.
He became editor of The Garden in 1993 and has overseen evolution of the title and the development of other aspects of the Society's publishing. Ian is passionate about expanding the purpose of gardens in society, encouraging innovation in garden design and has a particular interest in the creative use of ornamental plants.
Corinne Julius
Corinne Julius trained as a designer before pursuing a career in journalism. She writes regularly on design and contemporary craft for the Evening Standard, as well as broadcasting on Front Row. She is a reporter on BBC Radio’s Woman’s Hour and has twice won the Garden Writer’s Guild Radio Broadcast of the Year.
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Anne Wareham
Anne has been campaigning for the past fifteen years for a renaissance in British gardens, focusing on encouraging serious reviews of gardens and on returning gardens to their place amongst the fine arts in British culture.
She is a garden writer for newspapers and garden magazines,
is married to Charles Hawes, the .jpg)
garden photographer. They have designed and
created a thoughtful garden at Veddw House on the Welsh border near Monmouth. The four
acre garden was described by Sara Maitland in 'A Book of Silence' as a one of the "gardens that reflect, illustrate and develop personal philosophies and ideas of beauty; gardens that really are a form of art" and by Tim Richardson in 'The Telegraph' as "one of Britain's more original gardens."
Chris Young
Chris Young has a passion for design, gardens and the creation of space. Trained
in landscape architecture at the University of Gloucestershire, he has an
in-built love of gardens, gardening and plants, and is keen to promote this
topic to as many people as possible.
His specific interest is in garden design, especially the way places are conceived, made and lived in. He lives in Lincolnshire and is slowly making his own garden (though he admits it isn’t easy!). He is currently deputy editor of The Garden (the journal of the Royal Horticultural Society).
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Robert Webber
Robert grew up in a botanic garden. He read modern history at university,.jpg)
but after 10 years in the city in international banking he returned to his ‘roots’ and retrained in amenity horticulture at Cannington College. After 13 years as Head Gardener of Bristol University Botanic Garden, he left to train as a garden designer-living proof that Arians do re-invent themselves.
Robert now works with Lesley Hegarty in their garden design partnership based in Bristol and North Somerset. Their design ethos combines rigorous attention to the client brief, context and plantsmanship with an imaginative use of space and a contemporary twist.
Left to his own devices Robert would become a serious art collector.
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Lesley Hegarty
After studying modern languages at university, a short spell in the Royal 
Navy and a stockbroking career in the City, Lesley’s interest in plants and design was ignited by taking on a rather unruly and very challenging garden which was nonetheless full of potential and a great training ground for all things horticultural.
An RHS Diploma in Horticulture and formal garden design training followed and culminated in Lesley teaming up with Robert Webber to form The Hegarty Webber Partnership. Together they design a wide variety of gardens from country estates to city courtyards. After advising clients on investment in stocks and shares, Lesley is finding much greater satisfaction in inspiring clients to realise the real joy and ‘guaranteed return’ to be gained from investing in their gardens.
Outside of work, Lesley enjoys music, playing tennis, all things French and an active family.