From small city gardens, to large countryside estates, to African game reserves

In addition to running courses at The Sustainable Garden, Charlotte offers private consultancy work for a range of clients in the UK and Africa.

Having run her own garden design and landscaping business for over ten years in London, Charlotte has created more than 100 beautiful small city gardens. She specialises in designing low-maintenance, naturalistic planting combinations that offer year-round interest while providing food and habitat for bees and butterflies.

She also qualified as a nutritional therapist from the College of Naturopathic Medicine and ran her own practice in London as a member of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists (BANT). She believes that the power of food can help optimise health, and that fresh, whole, organic food and a healthy lifestyle can be used to bring the body back into balance. She grows her own fruit, vegetables and herbs without any chemicals, and can help clients to start growing their own food and to understand the important micro-nutrients this fresher food contains.

Having developed her own ecologically biodiverse smallholding over several years Charlotte then took a MSc in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources at CAT, and now advises clients on how to make their own land more sustainable and wildlife-friendly.

She has experience in creating native wildflower meadows, building nature ponds, orchard management, and in native plant and tree selection. She uses a mixture of organic, biodynamic, permaculture and no-dig techniques, offering a broad range of sustainable solutions in the creation and management of sustainable smallholdings.

Her ongoing work with an eco-camp in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya has seen the development of increased sustainability and self-sufficiency for the kitchen vegetable garden, by introducing rainwater harvesting and irrigation, new composting systems and a variety of sustainable food-growing principles to support productivity. She works closely with the local Masai team to deliver practical solutions within a challenging African climate.

Consultancy options range from advice on starting a sustainable smallholding, to detailed reports on ways to improve ecological biodiversity in your garden. An initial visit to your property usually takes around two hours and is followed with a written summary of recommendations/ sketches etc. which may include advise on re-designing certain sections or re-configuring the whole area. If required, detailed designs or planting plans are quoted for individually, dependant on size of project. Charlotte lives and works in South Devon, so travel within a 10-mile radius of is included Totnes in the initial consultancy fee, beyond that a fee is charged for mileage.

If you’d like to know more please call 07951 946489 or email: [email protected]

The wildflower meadow was hand-seeded in the spring of 2017 and gets more established each year, providing a beautiful mix of native British species including knapweed, ox-eye daisies, birds-foot trefoil, lady’s mantle and much more!
The wildflower meadow was hand-seeded in the spring of 2017 and gets more established each year, providing a beautiful mix of native British species including knapweed, ox-eye daisies, birds-foot trefoil, lady’s mantle and much more!
View showing the wildflower meadow, pond and potager garden that Charlotte created at her home in south Devon, which has become the location for The Sustainable Garden.
View showing the wildflower meadow, pond and potager garden that Charlotte created at her home in south Devon, which has become the location for The Sustainable Garden.
In early summer in Charlotte’s own garden the wide herbaceous borders are full of English country garden classics such as roses, clematis and alliums, with foxgloves and phlomis providing both vertical interest and a feast for pollinating insects.
In early summer in Charlotte’s own garden the wide herbaceous borders are full of English country garden classics such as roses, clematis and alliums, with foxgloves and phlomis providing both vertical interest and a feast for pollinating insects.
The brief for this holiday house near Salcombe was for a glorious display of long-flowering plants to provide a summery setting for family and guests throughout the holidays.
The brief for this holiday house near Salcombe was for a glorious display of long-flowering plants to provide a summery setting for family and guests throughout the holidays.
When this new village hall was built there was no budget left for planting so Charlotte organised a plant donation day, then designed and planted this ornamental bed.
When this new village hall was built there was no budget left for planting so Charlotte organised a plant donation day, then designed and planted this ornamental bed.
Contrasting textural foliage shapes and a harmonious colour palette, with the kitchen garden at the far end of a London garden.
Contrasting textural foliage shapes and a harmonious colour palette, with the kitchen garden at the far end of a London garden.
The far end of this small garden in Balham was zoned off into an attractive formal kitchen garden with raised beds using a border of flowering perennials and a pergola archway to give vertical interest.
The far end of this small garden in Balham was zoned off into an attractive formal kitchen garden with raised beds using a border of flowering perennials and a pergola archway to give vertical interest.
Even a tiny city garden can have space for veg, herbs and fruit bushes, achieved using different heights of raised beds and zoning different areas using landscaping materials with charming old sleepers to raise up the far end.
Even a tiny city garden can have space for veg, herbs and fruit bushes, achieved using different heights of raised beds and zoning different areas using landscaping materials with charming old sleepers to raise up the far end.
This south London garden had previously dismayed its owners with a scrappy sloping lawn and a few disconsolate shrubs. The need for mowing was dispensed by creating wide herbaceous borders separated by a generous sweeping brick path leading to a raised seating area at the far end surrounded by raised beds for fruit, veg and herbs.
This south London garden had previously dismayed its owners with a scrappy sloping lawn and a few disconsolate shrubs. The need for mowing was dispensed by creating wide herbaceous borders separated by a generous sweeping brick path leading to a raised seating area at the far end surrounded by raised beds for fruit, veg and herbs.
Charlotte used as many pollinator-friendly plants as possible to provide food and habitat for wildlife while designing the planting layout to provide interesting foliage shapes and textures in this community village hall planting project.
Charlotte used as many pollinator-friendly plants as possible to provide food and habitat for wildlife while designing the planting layout to provide interesting foliage shapes and textures in this community village hall planting project.
Late summer is a time for ‘hot’ colours in the planting scheme designed to contrast with the black wooden walls of the Village Hall community planting project.
Late summer is a time for ‘hot’ colours in the planting scheme designed to contrast with the black wooden walls of the Village Hall community planting project.
Wild Shamba gardeners Noonkuta and Josephine show members of the Masai community how to do the Indore method of composting that Charlotte helped them set up
Wild Shamba gardeners Noonkuta and Josephine show members of the Masai community how to do the Indore method of composting that Charlotte helped them set up
Using the permaculture principle of using recycled local materials to add support structures for tomatoes in the Wild Shamba kitchen gardens in the Masai Mara, Kenya which also add vertical interest to the large space
Using the permaculture principle of using recycled local materials to add support structures for tomatoes in the Wild Shamba kitchen gardens in the Masai Mara, Kenya which also add vertical interest to the large space
Ernest the gardener with the new tomato supports structures, made using recycled local materials, in the Wild Shamba kitchen gardens in the Masai Mara, Kenya
Ernest the gardener with the new tomato supports structures, made using recycled local materials, in the Wild Shamba kitchen gardens in the Masai Mara, Kenya
Building sustainability by creating a new composting bay system from recycled materials in the kitchen gardens in this eco-camp in the Masai Mara, Kenya.
Building sustainability by creating a new composting bay system from recycled materials in the kitchen gardens in this eco-camp in the Masai Mara, Kenya.
Some of the team who worked on sustainability projects with Charlotte in the Wild Shamba at House in the Wild, Masai Mara, Kenya
Some of the team who worked on sustainability projects with Charlotte in the Wild Shamba at House in the Wild, Masai Mara, Kenya
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