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Alice Bowe's Gardens ™/ Text / Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky / Photography / Luli At 28, Alice Bowe is one of the leading garden designers in the UK. Alice has just started presenting on BBC1, she has a book on sustainable gardening coming out next spring and she writes a regular column for The Times. The Cut found a sunny spot to hear more about Alice’s story and get some insider tips on the best gardens in England. How did you decide to go into garden design? As a teenager I used to be dragged kicking and screaming around National Trust gardens with my family. I found it so boring, but something obviously went in because over the years I became more and more interested in gardens and planting design. I had a surprising amount of confidence when I started working as a garden designer: I knew I could do it. How did you go about setting up your business and were there any days when you had doubts? As a student, I was asked to take on a large restoration project in Oxfordshire. Suddenly I was having to learn about invoices and accounting and branding and self-employment. It was all a bit daunting. Looking back, I am glad I didn’t know too much about business theory. I followed my instincts and thought about the things that impress me about a business, like good customer service, and sort of made it all up as I went along. One of the best - and worst! - things about my job is that no two days are ever the same. I can be dashing from a meeting in a muddy field to picking out plants at a nursery to a photo shoot: there’s certainly no time to get bored. Days on site rely on daylight so that means an early start in the winter. Meetings can start at 7am so if I have to travel deep into the countryside, it can regularly mean getting up at 5am! You recently presented on the Chelsea Flower Show for the BBC. How did you find being in front of the camera? It’s always exciting to go to the Chelsea Flower Show but it was even more exciting to get to see how it all works behind the scenes. Chelsea was the first time I’ve appeared in front of a camera for TV, and I must admit the idea was a bit scary at first - but once we starting filming I forgot about the cameras and the million odd viewers and we had a really good laugh. What are you up to at the moment? I’m working on a new book, which is very much focused on showing that contemporary design does not have to be bad for the environment. In the meantime, you can look out for me in a Gardeners’ World Special in November. Alice’s Top 5 Gardens (The Cut recommends taking a summer picnic and soaking up the rays): 1/ Rousham House and Garden (12 miles North of Oxford) http://www.rousham.org/ The garden at Rousham is an exercise in restraint, a garden of undulating hills punctuated by follies and water. This is an uncommercial garden with no tearoom and no shop – just bring a picnic and it is yours for the day. 2/ Gresgarth Hall (just outside Lancaster) http://www.arabellalennoxboyd. com/gresgarth/ The garden of Arabella Lennox-Boyd is open to the public once a month in spring and summer. A classic English country garden, with a feast of roses, a kitchen garden to die for and long, blousy herbaceous borders. 3/ Marjorelle (Marakesh) www.jardinmajorelle.com This elegant Moroccan garden boasts lush vegetation, clean lines, bright colours of blue and gold with plenty of water. Created by painter Jaques Marjorelle in 1931 and now owned by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. 4/ Hadspen www.thehadspenparabola.com Another garden run by painters obsessed with colour. I was particularly influenced by their use of red, purple and orange and by their yellow borders. Although Nori and Sandra Pope have now returned to Canada, and the garden is no more, their plant introductions (especially Astrantia ‘Hadspen Blood’) will stay on my plant list forever. A new garden is now being built on the site and I am watching the progress with interest. 5/ The garden I am currently designing for a client in Lincolnshire is pretty close to perfect for me. I’m going to be sad when it’s done! 19 acres of parkland and formal gardens surround a Georgian farmhouse with wide herbaceous borders, simple garden rooms and views across the countryside.		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