AIMS

The School provides first class professional training in all major creative and technical aspects of garden design. Students are also taught many of the other skills they are likely to need to launch a successful career as a garden designer. Class sizes are limited to a maximum of eighteen students, allowing plenty of time for ‘one-to-one’ teaching contact.

WHO TAKES OUR COURSE?

Our students come from all walks of life. Some have already enjoyed successful careers in other fields such as accounting, architecture, teaching, IT, horticulture, construction, marketing and retail. But around a third of our students typically describe themselves as a 'housewife', 'househusband' or 'carer', or say they're 'retired' or 'unemployed'. And while some students give up their jobs to do our course, many are able to fit lectures/studio sessions (one day a week) and home study around their existing work commitments.

What unites our students is a passion for gardens and garden design and the desire to train to the highest professional standards. Over 90% of our students go on to practise as freelance garden designers.

Sometimes people assume that, to take our Diploma Course, they have to be a certain age or have completed other garden design courses. The facts are these: in the past few years our youngest student was 22 and our oldest, 64. And many students have come to us with absolutely no formal training whatsoever. The point is this: if you have the determination to succeed, we will equip you with the knowledge and skills you'll need to enter the world of professional garden design.

COURSE CONTENT

The Diploma course is divided into four major strands which run throughout the 34 weeks.  Days spent at college are generally a mix of lectures and practical studio work.

Several lecture days, especially at the beginning of the course, are run jointly by Garden Design School’s two principals, Robin Templar Williams and Moira Farnham. This means that all students receive plenty of individual attention in these crucial early stages.

The four main areas of learning covered by the course are:

Design Principles and Drawing

Principles of design; drawing and drafting skills; printing processes; application of colour and rendering; axonometric projection; freehand sketching; plan presentation; single point perspective drawing; fast drawing techniques.

Soft Landscaping

Basic botany; soil science; classification and identification; planting design; horticultural requirements; establishment; site specific planting; planting plans and schedules. 

Professional Practice

Running the office; documentation and systems; health and safety; planning implications; client/designer relationships; contractor/designer relationships; specifications and contract management; project costing; getting started as a freelance designer; advertising and promotion.

PROJECT WORK

Four major projects are undertaken during the course. Starting with a small courtyard garden they build in complexity to the final project  - a large rural garden - with students producing full documentation; survey and site analysis; outline proposals; setting out drawing; visual realization; planting plan and schedule; construction details; specification and scope of works. 

In addition, 2 portfolios are produced by each student and compiled throughout the year, one devoted to hard landscaping the other to soft landscaping.

Please also note that a detailed, week-by-week guide to subjects to be studied (syllabus) is issued to all students once they have applied to join the course.

Independent Study (Homework)

Although students spend one day a week attending lectures and studio sessions (at Painshill Park), independent study of between 24 and 30 hours per week is necessary to ensure that all subjects are covered, and skills mastered, to a high standard.

ASSESSMENT: No exams/essays, just realistic, practical projects

Students taking the GDS Diploma are assessed regularly throughout the course and do not sit any examinations. All assignments are of a practical nature and closely resemble the types of projects a professional garden designer might encounter. There is no pointless essay-writing. And, unlike some colleges, we feel strongly that students' work should be marked and returned quickly - within 2 weeks of being handed in. This ensures a good, steady pace of learning and students receive timely, relevant feedback before moving forward to the next stage.

EXTRA CURRICULAR LEARNING

Unlike some colleges, Garden Design School organises a variety of extra-curricular trips and visits to enhance and extend what is learned on its Diploma Course. Recently students took a tour of the gardens at Great Dixter in East Sussex - a stunning, mature garden designed by Christopher Lloyd. During the visit, GDS director, Moira Farnham, highlighted many real life examples of the theoretical principles taught on the Diploma course. Moira also hosted a visit to Coblands Nurseries in Kent, a major grower and wholesaler. Here, students learned about how plants are raised, packaged, ordered and supplied.

Other trips typically included in GDS’s extra-curricular programme are a visit to see a garden under construction – the perfect opportunity to look at practical issues - and an outing to the RHS, Wisley, to explore its collection of show gardens.

COURSE DATES & TIMES (2008/2009)

Lectures and studio sessions for the GDS Diploma Course take place one day per week on Tuesdays. The course is divided into three academic terms of 10-12 weeks duration. All lectures are held at our Painshill Park training centre in our specially-equipped lecture studio. They take place between 9.30am and 4.30pm. There is a 45 minute break at lunchtime, and two shorter (15 minute) breaks during the morning and afternoon.

To view the dates of our current (2007/8) courses, which began on September 18/19 2007, please click here.