Five Minutes with Lucy Willcox of Willcox Garden Design – Vlaze

An interview with Lucy Willcox by Charmain Ponnuthurai. 

Photo Credit: Agata Miller

1. What drew you to becoming a landscape designer?

Before I made my career change from TV advertising to garden design, my garden and allotment was where I spent a lot of my time. As my love and obsession for it grew I realised I wanted to work in outdoor design for the rest of my life so I decided to re-train. It was the perfect combo of all the things I loved; design, problem solving and gardening.

2. In terms of outdoor cooking, what do you think is changing in the way we use our gardens? Some say it’s become an ‘extra room’, particularly since Covid.

For some, a garden has always been an outdoor room. The Covid era just highlighted it to people who hadn’t appreciated their gardens in that way before. They came to realise the importance of outdoor spaces and what an asset and an extension of their homes their garden could be: that a garden could be utilised and designed as an ‘outdoor room’; and with that came the boom in outdoor cooking and
kitchens.

3. How do you incorporate cooking outside into the design of
your gardens?

All of the designs I produce are a response to the client brief and the site, so it entirely depends on how the clients would like to use outdoor cooking in their gardens. There can be so many different permutations it totally depends on the wish list. Thats the beauty of my job. They are all a joy to design as every brief and garden are so different.

Photo Credit: Agata Miller

4. What do you recommend for simple ways to include cooking outside into your life beyond the legendary traditional summer barbecue?

There are some brilliant outdoor cooking products. The Big Green Egg is the most popular with clients. I have clients who cook their Christmas Turkey on it, so these kitchens are used all year round. A much better alternative to a few summer bbq’s with burnt sausages! Thankfully we are on an outdoor kitchen culinary up!

5. How did the Vlaze Adapt work with your outdoor garden design and how is it being used?

In the Fulham Courtyard garden, where we used the gorgeous Vlaze unit, it was integral to the design. The Nori colour gave such wonderful depth to this space and set off the colour scheme for the rest of the garden. This design was a classic ‘Outdoor Room’ and the Vlaze unit was perfect to house my clients Big Green Egg. My clients cook on the Egg all year around, the perfect spot for a Braai.

https://www.lucywillcoxgardendesign.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lucywillcox