More than 20 years in Education in London did not dampen his life long passion for plants and butterflies. The two go hand in hand. As head and administrator for a large department of Physical Education and Dance, John won the � Gulbenkian Scholarship � in dance and choreography representing London Schools and Colleges, and went to study at York University, Toronto. His natural gift for art and design coupled with the moving image soon transformed into the love of gardens and landscapes. Whether it be dancer on the stage or a set design in a garden, this only added to the challenge.
� The garden is an organic set design which changes with the seasons. You can choreograph the plants, trees and shrubs, but the main players, the owners, are merely transitory. Their fashions and attitudes come and go, but the garden marches on. At no two moments does it look the same.�
With imaginative use of colour, planting and furniture one can create a garden with many rooms. A garden for all seasons� John Clegg.
John and Ian came to France to create a garden, but spend so much time creating other people.
John is a natural plants man and is often credited with having green fingers. He specialises in Passiflowers, Daturas and water lilies.
After six years at Aspreys the Queen�s Jewelers, it was time for Ian to spread his wings. This culminated in his own jewelry shop, where his natural talent for design and contemporary jewelry proved highly successful. A course in garden design fulfilled a life long ambition to design and build gardens. It stared as a favour for friends in London who were developing property into apartments and needed landscaped surroundings, and swiftly moved on.
� When sitting looking at gem stones who would have thought that I would have got so much pleasure from laying marble terraces and building water features�. Ian Bentley.
Simplicity of design and maintenance is the key to designs for the majority of small gardens. They need to be functional, colourful and practical. A pleasure not a chore. A sound watering system and sympathetic planting and the basic understanding of the needs of plants creates a good formula. Shade, somewhere to sit, somewhere to play or entertain. A day garden a night garden. Somewhere to relax. The essentials of a Mediterranean garden.
