So here goes….

I’m coming clean, putting up my hands and owning up.

You know all that stuff I wrote at the end of the summer about being on a break, taking a breather, spending some me time before going back to Hampton Court for the final term after Christmas. Well I was lying. Had no intention of going back. Was embracing quitterdom with relish.

I was tired and emotional and I had had enough. I never wanted to see another 3D model again, couldn’t contemplate a CAD drawing without wanting to throw my laptop out of the window. And the thought of embarking on a perspective sketch – well this is going to sound overdramatic…. but it made me feel physically sick.

So for the last couple of months, while I’ve been editing my book and working in my garden and generally having a pretty wonderful time, I’ve been thinking that at some stage I would have to confess to this blog that I was a gardening school drop out, that I wasn’t going back, that my relationship with garden design was well and truly over.

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. And thank goodness I didn’t. Because you know what…. I’ve changed my mind.

Last week I went back to Hampton Court for a talk to the KLC students by the wonderful Andy Sturgeon. My intention was to kill two birds with one stone, to meet one of my gardening heroes, and use it as an excuse to tell everybody that I wasn’t going to finish the course. But they say ‘never say never’…. and they’re right. Because Andy showed us some of the gardens he has designed and it was like he had a special message just for me. There was the Chelsea garden which I had used in the mood board for my interview and his spiral garden which I had used for my Everest concept garden. It reminded me of how much I had learnt in the first two terms and how much I had already achieved. How could I thin about giving up when I had come so far?

So I’m going back in January to finish what I started. And I’m really excited about it. I’ve got to finish the summer projects: my Construction File needs 13 more CAD drawings (yes 13!!!!) and I’ve got to go back to the Crane Park Project which has quite a bit more work to do on it. But I’m looking forward to it. Which goes to show what a difference a few months off can make.

I’ve actually done a few of the CAD drawings this week. It’s been tortuous because I haven’t done any work with CAD since the start of the summer term. But it’s amazing what a difference it makes when you’ve got plenty of time to play around and you’re not panicking because you’ve got a deadline looming.

So my advice to anyone contemplating doing this course is to think long and hard about it. Because when they say it’s a lot of work they mean it. To get the most out of it you need to clear the decks and be prepared to work flat out without a breather for a year…. And that includes the holidays. It’s a massive commitment.

For those of you waiting with bated breath for the publication of my book you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. I’ve finished editing but want to give it one last tidy up before presenting it to the world. But hey – I’ve been writing it for the past seven years so what’s a few more months.

So I hope you’ll stick with me and this blog for a few months longer and who knows where we might end up….