Iron Butterfly Design

The brief was to transform a back yard building site into a courtyard garden. The requirement was for an un-fussy, sculptural area with car parking and manoeuvring. Green planting with few flowers, and those to be blue, no reds. There are archaeological restraints for deep planting but also a requirement for trees. This was achieved with the use of massive pots. Claire not only listened to the requirements but met them with tact, imagination and practical application. I am absolutely delighted with the result. I am more than happy to give the highest recommendation.

Claire of Iron Butterfly Design is an exceptional garden designer with a fabulous eye for detail as well as deep knowledge and expertise about plants. She is clearly passionate about her work and this shines through in her work ethic and dedication to the job. We were very fortunate to find Claire last year (our garden is the Childs Hill courtyard garden featured on her website) when we were doing major renovation work and she immediately stood out from other garden designers we interviewed . Not only was her fee very reasonable, she was also happy to work to our budget and tailor the project to our requirements. She came up with a fantastic design that would work in our tricky awkward-shaped garden and she was patient when explaining things to us (complete garden novices). She was always respectful of our preferences while at the same time not being afraid to give advice and feedback. Claire sourced and spec-ed hard and soft landscaping materials for us, designed custom built-in storage benches and presented her designs beautifully, with great attention to detail. She was 100% reliable and punctual, very resourceful in finding alternatives if we asked her to, and very flexible. She was also very considerate of our house and ensured that it remained clean - no mean feat when carrying plants, compost etc through the living room! Claire totally transformed our back garden from a drab and depressing space to a beautiful zen-like courtyard retreat. It is now our favourite space in the house. Claire is now based in Bristol but lucky for us, she still recently found the time to come back all the way to London to do some maintenance work on our garden, as well as transform our front garden too ! We think her willingness to go the extra mile says it all. Friends and family who come to visit always ask us who designed our garden. Not only is Claire a talented, reliable and hardworking garden designer, she's also a lovely, friendly and approachable person! We can't recommend her highly enough.