Matt James

Practising for over 25 years Matt has won awards in both the UK and US for his design practice sharing Gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Flower Festival. He is the author of several books notably RHS The Urban Gardener and RHS How to Plant a Garden. TV credits include Channel 4’s The City Gardener, ITV’s Love your Garden and BBC 2’s Great British Garden Revival. After five years teaching garden & landscape design at Falmouth University, Matt created the award winning landscape design degrees at Cornwall’s Eden Project which he led until 2021. Students under his tutelage have won numerous national awards including the RHS Young Designer of the Year six times. In 2025 Matt led the planting team for Monty Don’s RHS & BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden at Chelsea Flower Show and undertook the same role for the Together Garden for the Trussel Trust in 2026, which won Gold, Best Construction and the coveted RHS Peoples Choice Award. Currently he is the Senior Examiner for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture programme. Matt is passionate about plants and loves gardening, surfing, woodturning, cinema and mucking about on the Helford River with his friends and family.

Natalie Pridmore

Natalie joined James & Co from Mei Loci Landscape Architects where she practised for six years as a landscape designer and technician working on numerous private and public realm projects from concept to completion. She has also worked in a similar role at CAD Architects and Design Group 3 Architects. Natalie holds a BA (Hons) Interior Architecture & Design degree from Nottingham Trent University where she graduated in 2006. In 2020 she completed a HND in Garden & Landscape Design, at Cornwall’s Eden Project. Natalie spends much of her time on the beaches of Cornwall raising her young family or walking their dog along the Cornish coastline. Given any opportunity she whisks the family away in their camper van whenever she can. She also enjoys swimming, gardening and sewing, but it must be said that her real love is dark chocolate!

Oliver Ross-Macdonald 

Originally a graphic designer, with a degree in graphic design from University of Wales, Swansea, Ollie’s passion for gardens and landscapes saw him retrain in horticulture at Duchy College, Cornwall in 2008. Professional stints at The Lost Gardens of Heligan and The Trevarno Estate Gardens followed. After working in large private gardens across the Southwest, Ollie qualified with a Diploma in Landscape & Garden Design (Distinction) at the Oxford College of Garden Design in 2021. Since then, he has created gardens for both private and public spaces, often collaborating with other design professionals. He has a young family who together love mountain biking and travel. At the weekend Ollie can often be found wherever there’s a wave on the Cornish coast and in 2025 travelled to Biarritz, France placing 17th in the main event and 4th in the Masters division in the World Bodysurfing Championships tour event.

Ellie James

Ellie has over 25 years of PR and marketing experience, across all aspects of the wine industry in particular. With a degree in French & European Studies she speaks fluent French and Spanish and holds a CIM Advanced Certificate and WSET Level 3. Ellie manages the day-to-day running of the studio plus our PR and marketing. She is passionate about wine and is growing her own small vineyard in Cornwall, with the first proper harvest expected this year. Ellie also enjoys pottery, running, and spending time in or on the water with friends and family, whatever the weather!