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Award-winning garden and landscape designer Rae Wilkinson puts sustainability at the core of her approach to her work and the beautiful results speak volumes.
In this episode Rae discusses how sustainability plays a part in her everyday life as well as her career, and how she progressed:
But Rae admits she was a little lost after leaving art college and she had no idea how she was going to pay the rent. Inspired after seeing chain saw sculptures being made for a Hampton Court Palace Show Rae joined The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and took that first step along her career path. Making the most of the TCV's training courses before moving on to study garden design, Rae lived on a boat.
Scroll forward to the present day and Rae has an impressive portfolio that ranges from contemporary to traditional, from urban courtyards to large country gardens and landscaped schemes.
As well as beautiful private residential projects, Rae also creates sensory care gardens, including the Eternal Garden for palliative care patients at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals. She discusses how, when her own father was dying in a hospital bed during Covid lockdowns, he wanted to be allowed to go outside.
Rae also talks about the planet the next generation will inherit, and her hopes and fears for her children's future. She explains why she needs to be in nature and takes a daily walk through the countryside.
Rae's design studio is on the Knepp Estate in Sussex, famed for its trailblazing 3,500-acre rewilding project. Find out more about Rae's work in sustainable garden design here.
The Conservation Volunteers training courses
The Royal Horticultural Society medals and judging
The Knepp Estate
The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) UK courses
Season 1 Episode 5: Sarah Kessell, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales
Season 3 Episode 6: Dani Neal, City council procurement officer and environmental sciences graduate.
Season 3 Episode 1: Sarah Daly, Climate champion and independent sustainability consultant, TEDx speaker, and leading LinkedIn sustainability influencer.
Season 1 Episode 8: Jake Fiennes, director of Holkham Nature Reserve
