Learning with Experts
Design & Create your Dream Country Garden
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Course overview
Learn how to create and design a country garden with world-class garden designers Tom Stuart-Smith and Guy Petheram.
Learn the philosophy, technique and skill behind one of the greatest minds in garden design. If you are taking on your own landscape design project and need some inspiration from a world class designer, this is the course for you!
During this course, you will learn the core principles of garden design from Tom’s work, and will learn how you can apply these to your own designs in a way which realises your artistic ambitions.
You will explore Tom’s own design philosophy, and ways that his own country garden reflects the history and culture of its surroundings in its planting schemes and design. The overall ‘mood’ of your garden is the most important thing to have in mind when designing your plans, and this should be at the forefront of any decision you make in the garden.
You will consider what plants or features you can source locally, and how maintenance, feature choice, structure and soil type all have a part to play in bringing your plan to life.
You'll learn:
- core garden design principles
- how to apply designs to suit your gardening style and location
- reflecting the local culture and history in your designs
- materials and features to use in your designs
- zoning your garden and using different planting in different areas
- behind the scenes on landscape design projects - from his own garden to Chatsworth and gardens in Spain
The course includes:
- 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Tom Stuart-Smith
- lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
- flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
- downloadable lesson notes
- practical country garden design projects (with feedback available from Guy Petheram)
- access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
- small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas
Time to complete the country garden course:
Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 10 hours 5 minutes to complete including:
- Video lessons: 2 hours 5 minutes in total
- Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
- Your garden designing projects: at least 1 hour per lesson
- Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
You'll need:
You don't need any special equipment, but you will be planning your own garden, choosing features and materials. The course is suitable for gardeners at all levels - from new gardeners to professionals who want to learn from an expert landscape designer.
Ready to get started?
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Watch course trailer
Lesson summary
Day Zero
Materials and Structures
A garden of contrasts: Fertility and Water
Designing your dream garden plot
Get the most from peer knowledge
- Start course whenever you like
- Practise what you learn with your peers
- Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
- Lessons with videos & notes
- Course assignments
- Group chat & direct message classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
Why choose Learning with Experts?
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between PEER and EXPERT options?
At Peer and Expert level, you get access to the same core content and features:
- Video lesson tutorials led by your expert tutor
- Downloadable lesson notes
- Option to practise what you learn with lesson assignments
- Group learning within an online interactive classroom of up to 20 classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes and classroom
If you choose Expert level, you get all of the above plus the following:
- Personalised assignment feedback and coaching from your expert tutor
- Opportunity to interact with your expert tutor through a private messaging system
- Certificate of completion.
What is an online classroom?
Our online classroom has been developed to allow you to learn from our experts in a sociable environment alongside up to 20 other students. After each video tutorial led by your expert, you will be encouraged to practice what you have learned with optional assignments - these can be seen by the other students in your class, who are free to share their own thoughts and questions with you.
You will be encouraged to take part in an ongoing class discussion where you can discuss ideas, post images or work, and comment on each other’s assignments. It’s a great way to learn from other like-minded people who share your passion from all over the world.
This means not only do you benefit from people who are outstanding in their field, but also from a close-knit group of like-minded people whom you can learn alongside. Group learning has shown to greatly improve not just the experience of studying, but also how well you retain the knowledge, and we have built our classroom experience around this fact.
When can I start my course and how long will it take?
You can start your course any time within 12 months after receipt of your purchase confirmation email. Once you start, you’ll have lifetime access — meaning you can revisit the lesson videos and notes whenever you want.
Our courses are designed so that you can study at your own pace, some prefer to binge learn while others like to spread their studying over a longer period of time - it’s completely up to you. To give you a rough time frame, each lesson video is approximately 30-40 minutes long, and we recommend that you spend around an hour on each assignment.
Support and full FAQs
If you need any help with a course, be it one you’ve started already, or one you are looking to purchase, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support email address, or view the full FAQ’s here.
You can also use the orange speech bubble on your page to start a conversation with us.
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