First impressions

24th January 08

The other day I made a trip over to Bradstone’s offices in Hulland Ward to meet Heather, the winner of the Design Challenge, for the first time.

At the judging, I was really impressed with the fun way she had interpreted the brief. I was also interested to learn from her profile that, like me, she’s passionate about show gardens, so was looking forward to meeting her.

We had a chance to chat about her design and how things will progress from here and I’m sure we’re going to make a good team. She’s obviously extremely competent and self assured with plenty of great ideas.

Perhaps most importantly, she also seems very enthusiastic about the project and not afraid of a bit of hard work. For a design to really develop, you have to be committed enough to put the time and energy in, so I think it’s a good sign that she’s already so keen.

It’s nice that we have a few things in common on a more personal level too – like both having grown-up children – and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun working on the project together. Heather’s very clear about her own ideas which will make it easier for me to understand what she’s trying to achieve and therefore better able to help her develop her design.

While there will certainly be some hard work ahead, I’m just excited to have such a talented new designer to work with.