A Cotswolds garden designer who took a leap of faith to swap careers later in life has been rewarded with a top award from the Society of Garden Designers.
Announced as the winner in the Fresh Designer 2024 category, Emily Crowley-Wroe from Bourton-on-the-Water was praised for her work on a modern cottage garden.
Judges described her work as 'a cleverly laid out space that has led to a dramatic transformation and the creation of a very welcoming garden with a bold, seductive design.'
The award celebrates excellence in landscape and garden design for designers early on in their careers.
Emily, who grew up in Moreton-in-Marsh, said: 'Professionally this award recognises the high standard I strive for in my work and gives a seal of approval from the best in the business.
'Personally it assures me I did the right thing taking a leap of faith with a new career later in life and hopefully shows my own daughters that they should not be afraid to follow their passions and do what they love.'
She moved to garden design after spending 10 years working in marketing for Oxford University Press, following her PHD research at the University of Gloucestershire looking into contemporary Black British fiction, examining second and third generation writers born and raised in Britain after their parents came to the UK over the post war period.
Emily, who set up April House Garden Design in 2020, said: 'I made the decision to leave publishing to spend time with my young children and time outside with them, gardening and part-time working in plant centres, sparked by passion for horticulture and eventually design.
'I wanted to learn how to create well designed and beautifully planted outdoor spaces. The Cotswold Gardening School offered flexible learning and was such a creative awakening for me that I decided to try to make a career from garden design.'
The 53-year-old now designs residential gardens across the Cotswolds as well as RHS show gardens and is inspired by the beauty of Gloucestershire.
She said: 'I’m Gloucestershire born and bred and have always felt so lucky to live here and work here with all the outstanding natural beauty around us which I crave to be out in.
'We have wonderful craftspeople and crafts closely linked to the landscape and gardens set within the most beautiful historic towns and amongst stunning scenery which makes curating them a privilege.'
Now her children are 16 and 11 and she's able to dedicate more time to her career, Emily feels garden design is the perfect later life career choice.
She said: 'We have a unique opportunity to help make a difference to our struggling planet through the way we garden and design gardens — as a designer we have a steer on what materials we use, where we source them and the kinds of plants and habitats we suggest and create for all living things.
'We also get to make a difference to people’s enjoyment of their gardens by guiding them through their thought processes and decisions and it’s a great buzz seeing a design come to life and be enjoyed by other people.'
