| Full Course | Location | Price |
|---|---|---|
| DIY Garden Design | Home | £735.00 |
| Options | Price |
|---|---|
| Course with design pack | £835.00 |
Do It Yourself Garden Design is a supported distance learning experience that will enable you to design your own garden, or gardens for others, to a professional standard.
There is an optional design pack which you can buy to accompany this course: it gives you all the necessary equipment and materials to produce different types of garden design drawings to a high standard. The contents include: A3 drawing board (and bag), set squares, compass, French curves, scale ruler, circle template, pack of drawing pens, colour pencils etc.
If you already have design equipment you can choose the course option without this.
What will I study?
The course covers the history of garden design, fundamental design principles, research on materials and styles and the creative process of producing designs; on the practical side, it also covers linear and topographic surveying and site appraisal and setting out.
During the course you will have the opportunity to produce a site plan from the information you have gathered, a master plan, planting plan, construction drawings and specifications and finally a maintenance schedule.
What is covered?
Modules you study:
1. Producing a ‘Tear Sheet’
2. Clarifying the design objectives
3. Carrying out a site survey
4. Carrying out soil analysis and improving soil
5. Producing your own design brief
6. Drawing up the site survey to produce the site plan
7. Formulating your ideas for a design
8. Researching the hard and soft landscaping elements
9. Producing your master plan (a full design)
10. Producing construction drawings (optional)
11. Producing planting plans
12. Developing a specification (optional)
13. Setting out
14. The maintenance schedule (optional)
Click here to download a leaflet containing all the course information.
How is it delivered and assessed?
All the course reading materials are supplied as full colour notes in a binder.
We supply the plastic A4 envelopes (addressed) to send your work to your tutor for evaluation (please note you are responsible for the cost of postage to the tutor). The tutor will return all work sent to them by post at our cost. Where practicable, you will be asked to submit some work electronically.
What qualification will I get?
At the end of the course we will issue a BEST in Horticulture Certificate of Achievement which lists the modules you have successfully completed.
What is the cost and venue(s)?
Course with design pack £835
The design pack contains all the necessary equipment and materials to produce different types of garden design drawings to a high standard. The contents include: A3 drawing board (and bag), set squares, compass, French curves, scale ruler, circle template, pack of drawing pens, colour pencils and supplies of tracing and drawing paper. The retail value of the design pack is in excess of £150.
If you already have design equipment you can choose the course option without this. We will send you supplies of paper.
Course without design pack £735
What is the enrolment process?
Complete an enrolment form by clicking on the green 'Enrol for this Course' button above; please ensure you provide ALL of the details requested.
Note: The main course listing shows the price without design pack. Please make your choice between the options WITH or WITHOUT the design pack.
What else do I need to know?
When you have paid for your course you will be assigned a dedicated personal tutor and given their email address. On this course, your tutor will only be contactable by email (emails being answered within three working days). They will guide you through each module, review all of the materials that you send them by post/email and provide you with detailed feedback to enable you to improve as you progress.
What can I do after completing this course?
The next logical step would be one of the Royal Horticultural Society Courses - the RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Garden Planning Establishment and Maintenance would be an obvious choice, if you wish to gain a formal qualification. You can study this at one of our centres or as an online or correspondence course.