FEATURED | The multi-award winning garden designer Peter Dowle has added a showpiece to his impressive garden centre

The multi-award winning garden designer Peter Dowle has added a showpiece to his impressive garden centre in Gloucestershire. Looking for something to house readings, music, and events on site, Peter commissioned The Apse from the innovative team at Deepdean Design.

The Apse is a hand-crafted timber structure that is built from larch, sweet chestnut and hazel, all of which were grown in Warmhill Woods, Deepdean, on the edge of the Forest of Dean, close to the Herefordshire-Gloucestershire border.

The timber was milled on site and then processed and prepared by traditional methods of mortise and tenon joints using hardwood pegs, by local craftsman. The Apse is an original in-house design featuring collared arches and based on the ecclesiastical name for an arched or domed recess in a church. The roof is reed thatch with a straw ridge and was thatched by a second-generation master thatcher, Tom Walden who thatched two of the Welsh cottages in the museum in Cardiff and based in Holme Lacy, Hereford.

The Apse is on show at Leaf Creative in their shared venture with Deepdean Design to produce innovative and original products produced from local materials by local craftsmen.

“We are exceptionally proud of The Apse here at Leaf Creative. A beautiful, hand crafted timber house built from local wood that is a star show piece here In Gloucestershire. It was a pleasure to work with Lucian & John from Deepdean Design, they are both incredibly professional and also very knowledgeable on all things wood built. Highly recommended to anyone wanting a timber structure!”

Peter Dowle, Gold Award Winner at Chelsea, Malvern & Hampton Court & Owner of Leaf Creative Garden Centre, Huntley, Gloucestershire