Inspiration from the River Stour: Why This Landscape Matters to Me and how it inspires me and my Garden Designs

The River Stour is a 47-mile river in East Anglia, flowing from Cambridgeshire through Suffolk and Essex to the sea at Harwich.

It forms much of the boundary between Suffolk and Essex and has been an important feature of this landscape for centuries.

My pappa and nephew

I spend a lot of time walking along the River Stour.

Not once in a while. Hundreds of times.

It’s where I go to clear my head.

Most of my best ideas don’t come from sitting at a desk. They come while walking those same paths, over and over again.

What I like about the Stour is that it’s never static.

The river edges shift through the seasons. Wet margins in winter. Wildflowers and long grasses in summer. Reeds, hedgerows, trees, open water, muddy edges — lots of small eco habitats sitting right next to each other, all doing different jobs.

You notice more the more often you walk it.

Spring brings movement and growth. Summer feels fuller and more energetic. Autumn slows things down. Winter strips everything back to structure.

That cycle has a big influence on how I design gardens.

I’m always thinking about:

• how spaces change through the year

• how planting supports wildlife, not just looks good

• how a place settles rather than shouts

• how small details add up over time

The Stour has been shaping this landscape for centuries. It powered mills, fed villages, and inspired artists like John Constable. But for me, it’s less about history and more about use. It’s a working landscape. Lived in. Walked through. Changed by weather, people, and time.

That’s what I take into my work.

Design doesn’t need to be loud. It needs to make sense. It needs to work. And ideally, it should give people the same feeling I get from those walks — a bit more space to think.

That’s where most of my inspiration really comes from..