About Us

My name is Simon and I recently set up my new business in Sherborne, Dorset. I’m very proud to have won New Business of the Year 2023 and came 2024 Runner Up in the local business awards. I have spent the last two years trading at various local markets and shows researching my niche, which I have come to understand well. I have the ethos of high-quality, hand-crafted and English made or sourced products, with the intention of encompassing a range of traditional English trades, catering  for country gardens and estates.

The business started from home in Sherborne, after a long-term customer and friend, who has a picture postcard white thatched cottage and country garden asked if I could get hold of some whisky barrel planters. I was also keen for some planters myself to repot my acers and roses, so we went in on a large batch together. I sold the few that were leftover on social media, which went much quicker than expected so brought some more. Once supplying half whisky barrels, I was asked for a whole barrel, then a water butt and so on, and so Sherborne Country Gardens was born.

I have since grown the business to offer much more and traded at the Sherborne Market through 2022 and 2023, where I had a resident pitch in Pageant Gardens. I also traded at many other local shows last year including the Sherborne Castle Country Fair, The Oak Fair and many more.

I feel I have now honed the aesthetics of the business and have great plans going forward. I’m very fortunate to obtain the name English Country Gardens Ltd and the domain CountryGardens.co.uk. My web designer and I are busy reinventing our website, which will soon offer an extensive selection of hand-picked, high quality and reputable brands for nation wide delivery. These will include everything from garden tools and machinery, planters, plant supports to garden furniture, garden pods, green houses and shepherds huts. I am very ambitious with this new side of the business, the goal being to become the most prestigious country and estate gardening retail business in the UK.

I love the outdoors, my garden and am a great believer in reusing renewable, sustainable or existing resources. I have found this to be much more enjoyable than my previous line of work, so made the decision to run with English Country Gardens and see where it may lead.

I still use my customers garden as a bench mark, in that if I can picture it there, I would be interested in stocking it.