Profile

Colette Charsley is a landscape and garden designer, offering a complete design service to both residential and commercial clients from her base in South Devon.

She believes that the essence behind good landscape and garden design is to connect to the inherent 'spirit' of the place (or genius locii, if you want to be technical).  Once this has been identified it opens the gate to the creation of a beautiful and sustainable design which is in keeping with the site and will ground it in its setting.  Any garden or designed landscape forms the link between the geometric architecture of the building and the natural landscape.  It is therefore vital to have a strong and coherent design that can form this bridge.

Prior to undertaking a Post Graduate Diploma in landscape design and architecture at the Oxford College of Garden Design, Colette had over 20 years experience with a leading international property company in the residential, hotels and leisure and development sectors.  As a result she has an enormous fund of property related knowledge, commercial appreciation and business understanding.  She knows the importance of working and communicating with clients on what is probably the largest financial investment they have.  This is coupled with a deep appreciation, developed over many years, of how important a well designed and presented outdoor space is to any property of whatever size.

Colette also brings a lifelong appreciation of aesthetic beauty in all the arts and a fascination and sense of awe at the masterful hand of mother nature to all her work. 

Colette believes that landscapes don't simply need to be beautiful - they have to be workable and sustainable.  Achieving this requires the alchemical fusion between art and science: between creativity and practicality that her particular background allows her to apply.