Dan Pearson welcomes you to his home Hillside, where he will take you through his background in landscape design.

As Dan guides you through the process of naturalistic garden design, you will learn how to re-engage with nature and become a custodian of the land.

You will learn how to establish a brief, how to consider the site you want to transform, and how to implement it.

Under Dan's guidance, you will discover the importance of observing the mood and sensitivity of a place before you begin making changes.

Taking time to really organise the spaces on your site is a helpful way to understand how you might live in those places. You'll learn how to effectively identify where you want to be quiet and still, and where you want to be active.

Getting an idea of your garden's aspect, soil, and site will give you a lot of insight into what will work well there and how to proceed. You will learn how to master your understanding of these three key areas in this lesson.

Your soil type, and navigating its possibilities, is critical to what you will be able to grow in your garden. You will learn how to work with your soil to get to know it better and how to protect your soil against the elements that are crucial to a successful garden in this lesson.

You will learn how to engage effectively with the biodiversity of the natural world and balance your design with it.

Gain an understanding of how to design your outdoor space and the best way to start. Dan guides you through the order of the process to demystify the different facets of planning and design.

Evaluating your plot is essential to producing a design response that fulfils all your requirements. In this lesson, you will learn how to effectively evaluate your plot and better understand your needs.

You will examine the different structural options for your garden as Dan talks you through choosing the flow of paths and walkways. Dan will also talk you through how to develop a palette of materials that work for your site.

After you have analyzed the space, you can plan how you will create sections and zones within the garden. Learn all you need to know about zoning from Dan in this lesson.

A mood board is a helpful tool for establishing what you want out of a planting scheme. During this lesson, you will discover how to make an effective mood board and perform research to choose plants that will thrive and accomplish their intended purpose.

Implementing a planting plan and curating your plant list is crucial to creating a beautiful garden. You'll learn how to gather Dan's plant list, how to narrow down your choices, and how to plot your plants for optimum structure, layering, and coverage.

After you have established the basic framework of a garden, the next step is planting. Learn about the steps and measures Dan took to develop the planting plan for his Hillside home in this lesson.

In this lesson, you'll learn how Dan transformed his Hillside home and how patience is essential to planting design.

You will learn how Dan used undulating elements and contrasted heights to keep the planting feeling exciting and varied at his Hillside home.

With the help of Dan, you will learn how he layered his planting at his Hillside home.

Dan takes you around the landscape of his Hillside home, showing you the meadows, hedgerows, and orchards he has cultivated.

As you tour Dan's kitchen garden, he demonstrates how to organise and plan ahead to create a balanced garden.

Grow your own fruit, vegetables, and herbs under Dan’s guidance. Discover how a kitchen garden must be designed around deeply practical principles, as well as aesthetic considerations.

Dan takes you on a tour of The Old Rectory, a project that required a little more formality. You will discover how Dan applied his principles to create a space both sensitive to its past and to its surroundings.

Dan shows you how critical water was to the Old Rectory. Explaining how the Windrush River running alongside the site influenced the way in which he approached the design of the site.

As Dan leads you through the meadows, he describes how he created a relaxed and romantic mood.

The structure is what makes a place work and feel engaging. With the old Rectory as a backdrop, Dan shows you the different ways you can introduce surprises and mood changes to different spaces.

Take some time to reflect with Dan as he imparts some last words of wisdom and wishes you well on your journey to transforming your garden and becoming a custodian of the land.

Watch an exclusive preview of Dan Pearson's second Create Academy course, An Expert Guide to Planting Design. This course provides an in-depth look at planting design, teaching you how to translate your garden designs into considered planting plans.

In over five hours of lessons filmed at Dan’s studio and across three garden projects - including a small city garden, a coastal property and the creation of a brand new pond environment at Dan’s private garden in Somerset - Dan breaks down each planting system into different layers, showing you how to create a variety of garden styles that are not only beneficial for both environment and wildlife, but will also provide year-round visual interest.

Start watching here: www.createacademy.com/courses/dan-pearson-planting-design