The School
Cambridge Gardening School is here to support you in your horticultural journey. Whether you are just starting out, exploring a career change or looking to enhance your professional skills, our courses have been developed to give you the confidence, knowledge and support you need to progress.
With intentionally small class sizes and workshops, you receive personalised guidance from qualified gardening professionals who have built years of experience. We offer hands‑on practice in a real garden setting and a friendly approach with plenty of time to ask questions. Every session is crafted to leave you feeling inspired, capable and ready to apply your new knowledge straight away.
The Teaching Team
Director of Studies
Meg Cobley is a professional gardener and garden designer with over a decade of experience delivering beautiful and sustainable spaces in the Cambridge area. Following an initial career as a teacher and school principal, Meg’s path in horticulture began with a WRAGS traineeship and subsequent employment in a Cambridge college. Further training and qualifications in plant science and garden design followed and, most recently, she achieved the prestigious RHS Master of Horticulture award (with Distinction). Her research project for this focused on the challenges faced by career changers and she is passionate about equipping aspiring gardeners with the practical skills and knowledge they need to be confident and successful.
Annabel Rudd – Tutor
A lifelong lover of the outdoors, Annabel found it an easy decision to pursue a second career in professional gardening. She began her horticultural journey with a year-long WRAGS placement at Trinity College, Cambridge, which confirmed her interest in pursuing it further. She went on to complete the RHS Level 2 Diploma in Horticulture and has since developed hands-on experience at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, with She Grows Veg, and at a wedding venue where she sowed and cultivated an abundance of vegetables.
Alongside these roles, Annabel has been developing her own garden, designing planting schemes, and working with a range of private clients. She is also Lead Horticulturist for Cambridge Gardening Charity Cultivating Change. Her work blends practical skill with creativity, and she brings enthusiasm, care, and a genuine love of growing and sharing her knowledge.
Steph Boyd – Tutor
Steph has many years of hands-on experience in horticulture, garden design and consultancy. After training at Writtle College and gaining the RHS Level 2 Diploma in Horticulture, she completed a year-long WRAGS placement at a Cambridge college, subsequently joining the gardening team permanently. The college was renowned for its relaxed, informal gardens and naturalistic planting – forward-thinking at the time – and it was here that Steph developed particular expertise in propagation and cultivation of unusual and rare plants. She also collaborated on the redesign of the court garden.
Her commitment to sustainable practice and planting design led her to undertake a year-long border design course at Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens. She now works freelance, combining strong horticultural knowledge with creative, environmentally responsible planting design.
New courses are being developed for the future – if there is something you would particularly like to learn, do let us know!
Also, if you have the horticultural skills and experience to lead a workshop or deliver a course, then we would love to hear from you to discuss further.