Jennifer Benyon

Garden designer

Jennifer Benyon is in charge of design and maintenance of the outdoor spaces across the estate. A part-time role, she liaises with our team of contract gardeners who look after the day-to-day gardening requirements of all of our properties as well as landscaping and building the bigger projects. With their collaboration, she identifies gardens in need of attention and creates an annual schedule, from filling gaps in borders to entire re-design and renovation in conjunction with major house refurbishment projects.

When it comes to design, Jennifer’s three guiding tenets are to create spaces which are attractive, use planting to attract bees and wildlife and are also easy to maintain for tenants. “Gardening isn’t always a priority for our tenants so things can get a bit unruly at times,” says Jennifer. “I want to make outdoor spaces that the residents will find themselves enjoying and so feel encouraged to try their hand at maintaining themselves, even if they haven’t considered gardening before. With new gardens, I always make certain we give them a bed of herbs – picking a few sprigs of rosemary or thyme for the pot is such a pleasure. I think it’s one way of luring people into becoming gardeners before they have realised it.”

A recently completed tree survey on the estate – which is particularly known for its flowering cherry trees and the blossom they produce in February each year – has evolved into a project to produce a complete survey of all the gardens within our residential portfolio. Outside of De Beauvoir, Jennifer has designed a courtyard garden for the Royal Berkshire Hospital in memory of Sir William Benyon.