Helen Taylor enjoys a quarter of a century of garden design

“I will be visiting gardens of course,” she laughs. “Ian and I have planned a trip to south-west England to revisit gardens we saw when we were students.”

Helen and husband Ian Campbell, who met at the University of Sheffield, together run Helen Taylor Landscape and Garden Design, the company she created in 1999.

Ian and Helen work together in the business. Picture: Ian Lamond

A symmetrical design creates a stunning vista

The couple have transformed gardens at locations ranging from private homes to community parks, as well as working on prestigious schemes at nationally recognised gardens such as RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate.

After studying for an MA in landscape architecture Helen initially worked on large scale projects in private practice in Scotland. While working in Glasgow, she entered a national garden design competition launched by the Sunday Times for a walled garden at Formakin, an arts and crafts house and garden near the city. The Formakin Trust needed ideas for the design of the walled garden which was in disrepair.

She won. “This was a turning a point for me as I realised my creativity was more suited to the scale of garden design, with the attention to detail and, as a people person, working closely with clients in a more collaborative way," she says.

After relocating to Yorkshire, Helen set up her own private practice in April 1999. She also started teaching in garden design at RHS Harlow Carr and then at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Her first major project was based in Brussels with the British Council, but most of her garden projects are located close to her Burley in Wharfedale home, in Ilkley and the lower Wharfe valley.

Ian, also a landscape architect, joined the business in 2015.

Clients often approach Helen and Ian feeling overwhelmed by their garden. “They may have moved house and inherited a mature garden or moved to a new house with no garden at all and don't know where to start or find that their own garden no longer meets their needs. Getting the garden redesigned can give a feeling of control and calm,” she says.

Stone-flagged seating areas within a client's garden

Another captivating garden frontage

One of Helen’s clients, Lucy, talks of how Helen’s garden design changed family life. “The teenagers join us in the garden in our new relaxed seating area and we spend so much time on our garden now. Each day new planting interest gives me joy.”

Says Helen: “Like many clients prompted by children growing up, Lucy wanted to finally get rid of the trampoline and dominant football pitch and have a lovely lawn and introduce interest with different types of planting, colours and fragrance, including vegetables and fruit.

“She desired outdoor living spaces for dining, relaxed seating, and a hot tub area. The new outside room became so popular with the teenage children that she had to introduce a booking system.”

Re-designing a garden can be an important and positive part of a process of acceptance of moving on too, says Helen.

“Sometimes clients become unable to manage the garden, with declining health or when a partner dies. We are currently working with my brother-in-law whose wife died suddenly in her 60s . She was dedicated to growing vegetables and since her death, the vegetable garden has looked so sad with no new vegetable planting and the remains of a few cabbage plants.

“We are helping him to give this part of the garden a new lease of life and a completely different character by designing a garden for outside play for his new granddaughter who doesn’t have a garden at her own home. It will include a swing on the apple tree, a seating area and sand pit, a playhouse and place to grow some strawberries and we’re all delighted to realise this new garden for him and his granddaughter.”

She adds: “We have designed gardens for clients who have lived in their house all their working lives but didn’t have time to sort the garden. Some clients have hankered after a dream garden for years. We have redesigned a classic parterre for clients which includes a fernery, a tea house, and grotto furnished with antique garden features selected by the clients.

“A new garden design can bring a sense of home too. We’ve designed a Dutch-style front garden for a Dutch client including pleached trees and formal parterres of box and lavender so it reminds her of Netherlands.”

Among the many rewarding projects undertaken is designing for RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate in 2021.

“We were delighted to be involved in RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate, before Covid with master planning and detailed design of the central part of the garden working with Paul Cook the curator.”

Also immensely satisfying was their Ilkley Riverside Park community planting project, not far from her Burley in Wharfedale, she and Ian were approached by Friends of Ilkley Riverside Park (FOIRP) for their voluntary help with the design and planting of the park.

Helen and Ian devised a planting scheme at Ilkley Riverside Park

Colour is a key component of a design

“This has been particularly rewarding,” says Helen. “We designed and planted more sustainable planting using perennials rather than annual bedding and receive such positive feedback from the public.” Helen received the Ilkley Business Award 2023 for the project.”

Often garden design is as much about problem solving, explains Helen. “Sensitivity to the site, the client's tastes, a good eye as well as in-depth knowledge of hard landscape and building materials, plants, and horticulture, soils and ecology.”

Other aspects of the work include the planning process, legal considerations and British Standards.

Communication and people skills are key, she stresses. “From explaining to clients about the garden design process, listening skills and sensitivity to understanding what the client would like: understanding that some clients struggle to visualise plans and envisage changes, keeping them informed and reassured throughout the whole process, liaising between the client and the contractor.”

Having built a reputation for excellence locally, it means the company has a steady stream of work through referrals and repeat business.

“I’ve been fortunate to be able to work in the field that I love, converting to being a garden designer from a landscape architect. Practically this has meant that I could work my business round my family when they were young with childcare and school holidays - though it was never easy. In the early days I was so determined to succeed I would put clients' needs before my own and my family. I’m getting better at maintaining boundaries and realising that I can't take on every project that comes way.”

Helen is thrilled to have been appointed a visiting tutor at a new diploma in garden design at The Yorkshire School of Garden Design at Harewood House. “I worked with the course director Alistair Baldwin at Leeds Metropolitan University earlier in my career. The mature students are so enthusiastic, engaged, and eager to learn so it's a pleasure helping them with their designs.”

Helen and Ian would like to thank their many clients for their support.”It’s been wonderful experience in many ways: we visit many interesting places that you may not get the chance to see and meet genuinely lovely people.

It’s a delightful job to create beautiful gardens. Many clients wait years to appoint a garden designer, so they are so excited and invested in the project which is infectious. It’s a great collaborative process working closely with the client and helping them realise their dream.

“I enjoy the design process for the problem solving and creativity, and seeing the delight when a client is excited about the design possibilities. I still get a thrill from the transformation, seeing the design being translated into real life. I love working with plants and look forward to going to the plant nursery to select plants. We plant the garden ourselves, so it’s very satisfying to handle plants during the planting stage and see the whole garden design process finally come together.”

* helentaylorgardendesign.co.uk