The Background to our story

It all began when garden designer, Keith Southall, bought Whitlenge House Cottage 27 years ago and began a life's work of transforming the site into the place of beauty and tranquility one can experience today.

Keith Southall learnt his trade at Hadlow, Pershore and Rodbaston colleges. His early training was as a plantsman in trees and shrubs, which remains his special interest.

In recent years Keith has won top R.H.S medals for the gardens he has created at the Malvern Spring Show and the 'Gardener's World Live' show at the N.E.C Birmingham.

Keith has spent over 27 years developing the award winning three acre 'ideas' gardens here at Hartlebury, Worcestershire and has, at the same time, been continuously improving the five acre specimen plant nursery adjacent to the show gardens.

In 1997, Keith was voted the national chairman of The Association of Professional Landscapers of which he is also a founder member. Keith runs his successful landscaping and garden design service, directly employing his own landscape teams, alongside the popular nurseries and gardens. To discover more about the design and landscaping services please visit the website of Creative Landscapes.

Keith's wife Franchesca, who takes an active role in managing the nurseries and creating plans for customers' gardens, is a fully qualified designer having studied at Pershore College of Horticulture. Examples of garden designs can be studied in the Design Studio at the nurseries where you can also enjoy a drink and light snack.