Garden Design School – GDS – is one of the UK’s foremost providers of specialist training courses in garden design. The School is unique in that over 75% of teaching is undertaken by the college’s founders, Moira Farnham and Robin Templar Williams (pictured, right). They are both accomplished, respected, freelance garden designers and have a combined 32 years experience teaching various garden design courses and workshops both at home and abroad. They are also Registered Members of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD) and have designed and built award-winning gardens at the RHS’s Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows.

Garden Design School offers an intensive, one year, part-time, Diploma Course in Garden Design. Now in its seventh year, our Diploma Course is widely recognised in the garden design industry for providing comprehensive, structured training in all of the key skills needed to become a professional garden designer.

The Diploma Course is taught at two separate locations in the UK and, new for 2009, also in the USA.

In the UK - Serving London and the South East we have a training centre in the beautiful surroundings of Painshill Park, Cobham, Surrey. Situated just 15 miles from the capital, our lecture studio here accommodates a maximum of 18 students. Serving the South and South West of England, Wales and the Midlands we have newly-refurbished teaching facilities at the stunning University of Bristol Botanic Garden. The class size here for our Diploma Course is limited to 16 students.

In the USA - Garden Design School launches its first ever US Diploma in Landscape and Garden Design - for a maximum of 18 students - at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Massachusetts, USA. Please click on 'USA Diploma Program' for more details.

Irrespective of where you train, our courses provide the perfect springboard for a career in the exciting, expanding field of garden design. To find out more about Garden Design School - its courses, students, lecturers, careers, awards, admissions and latest news - please choose from the menu options, left.