We have had the privilege of working with this iconic garden for twenty years now, having first redesigned Sybil’s Garden back in 2004. The garden is owned and run by horticultural charity Perennial, who do amazing work supporting people who work in horticulture in all sorts of ways. The Spencer family took on the site in 1951 and mother and son Sybil and Robin went about creating one of the finest gardened acres in England, full of eccentricity, charm and an arresting appreciation of scale, form and movement. We were appointed to design a major extension to the garden when Perennial bought the cottages next door, which were converted into the superb café and teaching space we see today.  We created new car-parking, a brand new arrival experience through a new plant sales area, an outdoor dining terrace and the sunken Mediterranean Garden.  This major extension to the garden was one that we saw as a continuation of the many instances of special craftsmanship, innovative use of materials and eye-catching detailing that make this place so special. From paths, to steps and oak gates we paid particular attention to the way that the built form helps to engender a garden with a memorable sense of place. We worked closely with the fantastic in-house gardening team, who planted the south-facing Mediterranean Garden into a growing medium of sharp sand and crushed stone, bringing to York Gate a new architype of drought-tolerant resilient planting. York Gate has been recognised by Tripadvisor as among the top 10% of listings in the world to visit.