When I was awarded a Fellowship in 1983, I was running a small landscape consultancy, specialising in the conservation and management of historic parks and gardens, and that is what I still do. The Fellowship took me to Sweden, Finland and Russia in the belief (which turned out to be well founded) that 18th-century landscapes would survive much better there because the climate is so hostile to gardening that once such a landscape had been made no one would willingly change it.

In addition to running my practice I have written four books on 18th-century landscape – two on 'Capability' Brown and two on Humphry Repton, his successor. I was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to landscape architecture – it's been a good life.

It felt at the time as though the members of the Churchill Fellowship committee were the first people to take me seriously and I remain profoundly grateful to them for much that I have done since. I'm only sorry that I have not remained more in touch with it.