Kevin Brown
Ingleborough by Kevin Brown
Kevin has been renovating old buildings since completing his BSc in Building at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Metropolitan University) in 1980. He has done many barn conversions, but says that this project at Cold Cotes may be his last one – we will see!
He is also an accomplished joiner, following in the footsteps of his father, and has been working for over 10 years as a fitter for Storm Windows http://www.stormwindows.co.uk/, who make bespoke secondary glazing for classic, historic and listed buildings.
He hopes in the future to use his joinery skills to make individual pieces of furniture for the home and the garden.
Derelict farmhouse in Calderdale, West Yorkshire by Kevin Brown
Kevin has yet another string to his bow – he is a watercolour artist and printmaker and had his own gallery for a number of years near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. He has started painting again now that the barn conversion is finished and you can view a selection of his work at www.kbwatercolours.co.uk
Margaret Wilding
Wildflower meadow with mainly annual flowers
My love of flowers started as a child, when I would walk along the lane where I lived and tick off the wild flowers I saw in my Observer’s Book of Wildflowers. As a student I grew carrots in a window box and each successive house move widened my knowledge and love of gardens and gardening. I propagated many of the plants I grew, so they could move with me from house to house. I became increasingly interested in the design of gardens and started my own business in 2003 www.margaretwildinggardens.co.uk
My planting style has developed to favour more naturalistic schemes and I firmly believe that gardens should benefit local wildlife and be in tune with nature. I design gardens to evolve and develop over time, which require low levels of maintenance. I have come full circle back to the wildflowers that I love and try to include them in gardens that I design.
Small tortoiseshell butterfly
The project at Cold Cotes is providing scope to try out ideas that have been brewing in my mind for some time and I am looking forward to growing the sort of plant combinations that I have been designing for other people. More detail about the outdoor work being carried out is given in The Landscape Project.