Garden designer and writer. Rosemary Isabel Baird Sandilands was born in Gillingham, Kent, the youngest of four children and daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Prescott Sandilands of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and his wife Gladys Baird. In 1939 she married the architectural historian David Verey, and their were four children from the marriage, Charles, Christopher, Veronica and Davina. In 1951 the family moved to the late 17th century Barnsley House near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Although her main interests had been bringing up her children, horses and hunting, she became passionate about gardening. Within a few years she and her husband had transformed their gardens into a series of themed garden areas . They were influenced by the arts andd crafts style of some of their neighbouring Cotwold gardens. She became interested in garden history, gradually assembled a collection of rare gardening books, and created in 1975 a formal knot garden and a patterned herb garden. In the early 1970s, they opened their garden to the public and it became a meeting place for great gardeners. Her husband died in 1984 but she continued to travel the World teaching others about garden design and writing extemsively on the subject. Her most famous clients were the HRH Prince Charles and Sir Elton John, whose gardens at Highgrove and Woodside she designed. After a bad fall in 2000 when she broke her hip, she died the following year at the General Hospital, Cheltenham, from a chest infection. She was buried in the village church next door, and alongside her husband and the walls of her beloved garden.
Garden designer and writer. Rosemary Isabel Baird Sandilands was born in Gillingham, Kent, the youngest of four children and daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Prescott Sandilands of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and his wife Gladys Baird. In 1939 she married the architectural historian David Verey, and their were four children from the marriage, Charles, Christopher, Veronica and Davina. In 1951 the family moved to the late 17th century Barnsley House near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Although her main interests had been bringing up her children, horses and hunting, she became passionate about gardening. Within a few years she and her husband had transformed their gardens into a series of themed garden areas . They were influenced by the arts andd crafts style of some of their neighbouring Cotwold gardens. She became interested in garden history, gradually assembled a collection of rare gardening books, and created in 1975 a formal knot garden and a patterned herb garden. In the early 1970s, they opened their garden to the public and it became a meeting place for great gardeners. Her husband died in 1984 but she continued to travel the World teaching others about garden design and writing extemsively on the subject. Her most famous clients were the HRH Prince Charles and Sir Elton John, whose gardens at Highgrove and Woodside she designed. After a bad fall in 2000 when she broke her hip, she died the following year at the General Hospital, Cheltenham, from a chest infection. She was buried in the village church next door, and alongside her husband and the walls of her beloved garden.
