Wessex Living Gardens is the work of Dom Blake - ecological land steward, gardener, designer, writer and speaker.

I help people understand, shape and care for gardens, orchards and small landscapes as living systems: places where people, wildlife and food can thrive together.

My route here has taken me through market gardening and orchard care in France and the UK, community food projects, and four years at the Soil Association advising farmers on organic, regenerative and agroecological practices. That experience taught me to look beyond individual plants or isolated problems and consider the relationships between soil, water, wildlife, cultivation and human use.

I have trained in sustainable land management through BASIS and completed a Permaculture Design Course, alongside years spent studying practical ecology, wildflower meadows, no-dig growing and wildlife-friendly design. But much of my education has taken place outside: working in gardens, tending my own no-dig allotment, observing the quiet intelligence of plants and soil life, and walking the countryside with my beagle, Hugo.

I established Wessex Living Gardens to bring these strands together in one practice. Today, I work across gardens, orchards and rural properties in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, offering ecological consultancy and design, focused practical projects and thoughtful long-term stewardship. The form of the work varies, but it always begins with paying close attention to the place, understanding what is already there and recognising where change will have the greatest value.

Alongside my hands-on work in gardens, I write regularly for the Sherborne Times, the Wessex Living Gardens journal and The Spark. I also give talks and workshops, sharing a practical and hopeful way of seeing and creating gardens that are beautiful, productive and alive.

Wessex Living Gardens has grown from the belief that practical experience and ecological thinking are most useful when they remain connected. My work is grounded in what I learn with my hands, sharpened by observation and carried further through design, writing and teaching.