Landscape Master Planning
Strategic, long-view design for larger sites — charities, estates, public realm and community-led schemes. Phased, resilient and rooted in context.
Landscape Architecture & Garden Design · South-East
Gardens designed
for people and nature, together.
A studio practice helping people get the most from their outdoor spaces — no matter the size — through master planning, concept design, planting plans and ongoing care.
“Every plot — a balcony, a city courtyard, an acre in the country — can become a living, generous landscape. Good design listens to the site first.”
— Emma Atkinson, founder
Services
Four ways we can work together
From the first site visit to planting day and beyond — tailored to the scale and ambition of your project.
Concept Design
Translating your site, brief and instincts into a clear design direction — sketch plans, mood and material palettes, and a vision you can live with.
Planting Plans
Layered, seasonal planting designed for pollinators, resilience and joy. Detailed schedules so your garden reads beautifully year-round.
Maintenance & Aftercare
Gardens are living things. Seasonal care plans and editing visits keep the design evolving as it matures — not just maintained.
Selected work
Projects & show gardens
Recent commissions across master planning and garden design, including work exhibited at leading UK shows.
The Butterfly Garden
A pollinator-first garden celebrating UK butterflies — built around nectar-rich planting, host species for caterpillars and a sunken seating area to take part in the Big Butterfly Count.
Garden Design
Finding Your Pink Platinum award
A sensory, ribbon-planted garden exploring the full spectrum of pink in horticulture — from palest apple blossom to deep magenta. Awarded Platinum at BBC Gardeners' World Live.
Show Garden
Show Garden at Belvoir
A garden designed for the historic setting of Belvoir Castle — combining a contemporary planting language with the rhythm of the traditional English garden, set around a reclaimed brick path and sunken seat.
Garden Design
Public realm & community schemes
Seven years of landscape architecture across housing, charity and public realm sites — including ongoing work as Principal Design Advisor at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, shaping resilient, biodiverse neighbourhoods that age beautifully.
Landscape MasterplanningProcess
From sketch to soil.
Every project starts on paper — a site walk, a sketch, a hand-drawn plan and a planting palette built around the place and the people.
Site-first, hand-drawn layouts that capture flow, scale and the relationship between planting, paving and space.
A considered plant palette — tested for ecology, season and texture — paired with a colour story that suits your site.
Hand-painted visuals so you can see the garden before a single spade goes in the ground.
About
A landscape architect, now designing gardens too.
I'm Emma Atkinson. I trained as a Landscape Architect, graduating from the University of Greenwich in 2018, and went on to complete a Masters in Spatial Planning at UCL in 2021.
After seven years working as a Landscape Architect on public realm, housing and charity-sector projects — including ongoing work at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation — I've turned my focus to garden design too, bringing the same rigour, ecological thinking and love of place to private gardens and show gardens alike.
Recently becoming a mother of two has shaped how I think about gardens — pushing the boundaries between adventure, play and biodiversity, without compromising on planting aesthetic.
- Years practising
- 7+
- Trained at
- Greenwich · UCL
- Based in
- South-East England
Journal
From the studio & the garden.
A working diary of show garden builds, planting trials, sketches and seasonal moments — follow along on Instagram.
@emmaatkinsongardendesign
Start a project
Tell me about your place.
Balconies, city courtyards, country gardens or community sites — I work across the South-East and further afield. Share your site, your thoughts and what you hope the garden will feel like. I'll reply personally.
emma@atkinsondesign.co.ukBased in the South-East · Available UK-wide