Quintessence
PORTFOLIO · GARDEN DESIGN · CASCADES GARDENS, MATLOCK
The view from the tea room
A design for the view from the tea room at Cascades Gardens, a four-acre Japanese garden and meditation centre in Bonsall, near Matlock.
Derby College, Level 3 Garden Design · Submitted October 2026 · Concept design
THE BRIEF
A college brief for a real garden.
Derby College’s garden design department works in partnership with Alan Clements, who has spent around thirty years making Cascades Gardens. It’s a Japanese-inspired garden for meditation, set in an old limestone quarry in Bonsall.
Alan asked our Level 3 group to design the view from his tea room, across the stream that runs through the garden. Everyone in the group has put a design forward. If mine is chosen, we’ll build it.
THE DESIGN
Drawn by hand.
This is my hand-drawn design for the view from the tea room. A wandering path of stepping stones leads through traditional Japanese planting, crosses the stream on a stone bridge and carries on to the tea room.
The path is a nod to the traditional tea garden, where the journey to the tea house is just as important as the ceremony itself. It takes you through the planting slowly, so you arrive ready.
Where you cross, I widened the stream with interesting rocks, so the water is broad and slow moving. It’s a nod to the pond and island gardens, scaled to the space we have.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why this one matters to me.
Japanese gardens are where my love of gardens runs deepest, and the Japanese reverence for nature is at the heart of it: you work with the rock, the water and the plant, not over them.
The thread runs through my work. My Sandringham garden, Between Chaos & Order, sat between structure and natural irregularity. My ikebana practice teaches me to give one stem my full attention. Shakkei, borrowing the landscape beyond a garden into its view, has been a big influence, and a view made to be looked out on from a tea room brings that idea close.
I’m drawn to the naturalistic, and to non-dual philosophies like Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, where the one looking and the view aren’t really separate. It carries through everything I make, which is why this project excites me so much.
Cascades, on our site visit.
Photos from the day our group walked the garden.
Four ideas in one view.
Each part of the design borrows from a traditional Japanese garden.
THE PATH
Stepping stones
A wandering path through the planting. In a tea garden, the journey matters as much as the ceremony.
THE CROSSING
A stone bridge
The path crosses the stream on a stone bridge, so you pause over the water on the way to tea.
THE WATER
A slower stream
I widened the stream with interesting rocks, so the crossing is broad and slow, a nod to pond and island gardens.
THE PLANTING
Traditional
Japanese planting, with acers and drifts of Soleirolia soleirolii (mind-your-own-business) as a soft, moss-like carpet.
Where the thinking comes from.
Earlier work that fed into this design.
SPACES
EXPERIENCES
PORTFOLIO
Garden design
Mindful floristry
Between Chaos & Order
Gardens and planting designed around how you want a space to feel. See garden design
Hands-on, unhurried workshops for teams and groups, shaped by ikebana. See the workshops
My first solo show garden at RHS Sandringham 2026. Walk through the garden
WITH THANKS
Made with
Alan Clements
For opening Cascades Gardens to our group and setting the brief.
Derby College
My Level 3 Garden Design course, my tutors and the rest of the group.
What happens next
The designs are now with Alan and the college. If mine is chosen, I’ll help bring it to life at Cascades and share the build here. You can visit the garden: cascadesgardens.com
Good to know.
Is this a real garden?
Yes. It’s a college brief for a real garden: Alan asked our Level 3 group at Derby College to design the view from his tea room, and everyone put forward a design.
Will it be built?
If my design is chosen, yes, and I’ll share the build here. Until then it’s a concept design.
Can I visit Cascades?
Yes. Cascades Gardens is in Bonsall, near Matlock. Check their website for opening times before you go.
Could you design mine?
Yes. I design gardens of all sizes, and Japanese planting and thinking run through my work. See garden and planting design.