Drawn to plants
WELL KNOWN for garden maintenance in and around Winchester , Claire Hartnell has branched out through the creation of a completely separate business – Garden Design by Claire Hartnell .
She learned how to plan and design nearly 20 years ago in the days before a computer produced plans , working with pen and ink on paper – and absolutely loved it .
When she moved to her new house at Eastleigh a year ago she inherited a cluttered old garden attached to a 100-year-old property . Having ‘ carted around a lot of pots ’ she knew where she wanted to put them and began to plan her dream garden . In just a year she ’ s created a traditional English garden with a twist .
Claire explained : “ I ’ m going to produce an A4 plan which people can follow in simple language , a planting plan , think it like having a personal clothing shopper . I want people to say ‘ take me plant shopping ’; it ’ s going to be simple affordable design on a 1cm : 1m ratio , ‘ hand- drawn ’ on A4 .
“ I ’ ve gone for yearround interest in my own garden and I want to pass that on to those capable able of digging a border and popping plants in . They just need to know what plants to put where and when !”
The idea germinated ed from a Winchester ONLE network meeting when Claire spoke about her business journey . Host James West encouraged her to do more with her design talent and a website and branding will follow shortly .
Claire concluded : “ My creativity comes to the surface when its a hand-drawn
ABOVE CLOCKWISE : St Johns after . St Johns before . Planting plan . Claire Hartnell .
plan because it is different to the maintenance side of the work which my team of six carry out .
“ I can see the design side working beyond local geographical reach and I am genuinely excited about the launch .” claire @ chdesign . uk
20 Resident www . resident�agazine . co . uk