Martha Balfour graduated from Inchbald School of Design in 2021 with a Diploma in Garden Design, she gained a distinction and won 2 out of 4 of the school’s judges awards for her designs. Prior to this she worked in the luxury fashion industry in visual merchandising, designing pop up shops and window schemes for brands.
Martha is now designing gardens for people to enjoy across the UK and Europe.
“The client is absolutely at the core of all of my designs and I think of the design process as truly a collaboration and include the client at every stage. Alongside this my designs are led by the place, it’s spirit, the landscape and it’s history. With this and the environment at the core of all my designs I love to play with the juxtaposition of simple clean structure with loose, naturalistic planting, this for me creates an irresistible harmony connecting people to nature and the world around us.”
Awards
Inchbald Judges Awards
Clare Foggett, Editor, The English Garden magazine
Winner – Martha Balfour
Martha’s portfolio comprises designs for very distinct landscapes and gardens, but each design has clarity of vision in common – as well as exquisite drawings that transport the viewer to the place. I particularly like her design for a shaded, narrow urban garden with its pergola jauntily set on the diagonal, and her uncomplicated yet effective use of space in her layout for The Old Mill, where meadow, pond and romantic planting create a setting perfect for languid days. She has the confidence to keep things simple, and all of her designs benefit as a result.
Lynne Marcus, Chair, Society of Garden Designers
Winner – Martha Balfour
My final decision is Martha. Her overall portfolio of designs is broad, comprehensive, diverse and appropriate for location. Her drawings are evocative. Her Planting is romantic, great use of colour and texture and deferring to meadows links garden with the dreamy environment as well as helping with budget and maintenance in large, sprawling spaces. I love the combination and through consistency of the spliced perpendicular and angled geometry in her Urban Garden, tempered with loosely shaped planting beds softening the stonework. This widens the narrow space, frustrates the view, tempts you through each area without closing the long view and creates secrecy. Boundaries are buffered with planting, so as not to arrive at a fence and there are spaces to go to distance yourself from the house. Trees and the pergola create three dimensionality, enclosure and privacy. Children will have fun using the space as a whole before arriving at the play den. The British Columbia garden cohesively straddles the site and respects the natural elements as well as creating destination points for people. My favourite is her Suffolk Riverside Garden, with its gentle, winding but defined paths through meadows and natural planting, placing the house directly into the landscape at the door and guiding the walker through to areas of interest and to places to dwell and relax. The boardwalk is a confident statement cutting through to link the house and garden to the beach with a promise. I wish I was there.