About Us

John and Nicola Sallis Chandler have a real love of plants and gardens and have been designing and building gardens together since 1986.

John has been a keen gardener since early childhood. He was a student on the Diploma in Horticulture course at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew where he won a national competition for his design work and graduated with honours and as the top student of 1985.

Over the years John has lectured widely in his field. He is a visiting tutor in Landscape Design & Detailing on the widely renowned Diploma course at Kew. He set up and was course team leader for a National Diploma in Garden Design and taught RHS certificate in Horticulture as an evening course for a number of years. He also occasionally runs short courses, workshops and tutorials.

Nicola has an arts background. She studied for a degree in Fine Art and an MA in Printmaking from Wimbledon College of Art.

Edward Locke joined us in 1997. He too has a Kew background and a lifelong love of gardening. He has huge experience and is highly qualified in the management and development of our public landscape. He is actively involved in many groups, charities and trusts concerned with the heritage and future of our natural landscape.

We have a small full time team of highly experienced and qualified landscape gardeners with a broad range of skills and very good relations with local bricklayers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers who we bring in to help us when needed. John or Edward are always on site with the team.