Landscape Architect Tom Stuart-Smith on the 50-Acre Estate That Shaped Him

Описание: Landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith has spent most of his life on the same 50-acre estate, tending its gardens and letting the land shape him in return.

Tom has designed gardens at places like Chatsworth, Tate Britain and The Hepworth Wakefield. He’s won nine gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, and was awarded an OBE in 2023.

But long before any of that, he was a child roaming Serge Hill in Hertfordshire, the estate his grandfather bought decades ago. Tom spent his childhood climbing its trees and staging Shakespeare plays. And apart from a brief spell away, he’s lived just 200 yards from his childhood home for almost his entire life.

Tom’s wife, Sue Stuart-Smith, is a psychotherapist and author of the book The Well Gardened Mind. Together, they created the Serge Hill Project – a part of the estate where community groups, schoolchildren, young offenders and people recovering from illness can get hands-on with the soil and experience the uplifting power of nature.

This is a conversation about landscapes, legacy and what it really means to stay rooted in one place.

The episode was recorded at The Apple House, a modern pavilion on the estate designed by their son Ben.

A full tour of the building and its surroundings is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon:   / homingwithmatt  

00:00:00 Arriving at the Estate
00:01:01 Early Life and Family Background
00:03:13 Childhood on the Estate
00:05:16 Family Dynamics and Finding a Niche
00:06:40 Planting Trees and Sense of Belonging
00:09:30 Family Rituals
00:11:00 School Years
00:13:09 Meeting Sue
00:16:22 Discovering Landscape Architecture
00:19:13 Starting His Own Practice
00:20:50 Chelsea Flower Show Experience
00:22:37 Design Philosophy and Plant-Centered Gardens
00:25:08 Logistics of Show Gardens
00:27:51 Show Garden Disasters
00:29:44 Living in the Barn
00:31:14 Garden Evolution and Landscape Patterns
00:32:33 Restoring Historic Hedges and Field Names
00:34:18 Approach to Gardening and Biodiversity
00:35:18 Views on Rewilding
00:38:11 The Apple House: Purpose and Design
00:40:35 Apple House Materials and Construction
00:44:18 Relationship Between Building and Garden
00:45:39 Gardening and Wellbeing Practices
00:48:44 Managing Stress and Perspective
00:49:34 Raising Children on the Estate
00:50:49 Meaning of Home
00:52:18 Landscape Shaping Identity
00:54:20 Belonging, Itchy Feet and Staying Put
00:56:02 Legacy and the Future of the Estate
00:57:21 Closing Remarks

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Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/32017...

Music by @simeonwalkermusic
Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office
Produced by @podshoponline

The full visualised tour of Tom’s estate is available to our Patreon community.
Patreon:   / homingwithmatt