Witney Rotary welcomed award-winning garden designer Sarah Eberle MBE for a fascinating and highly entertaining talk to a packed gathering of Rotarians and guests.

Sarah shared stories from a remarkable career designing and building gardens around the world. She explained why the building is as important to her as the design itself — an approach that challenged some of the traditional attitudes and snobbery she encountered early in her career, when designers were often expected to leave the practical building work to others.

Sarah's enthusiasm for remaining hands-on was evident throughout the evening. Despite her considerable success, she clearly still loves doing the work.

Her career has taken her around the world, working on projects for some very well-known clients as well as more unusual challenges. One particularly fascinating example was her work with the European Space Agency on a Mars Garden, considering how edible and medicinal plants could support people during a potential 600-day space voyage.

Sarah spoke with great openness about her career, creativity, ADHD, imposter syndrome and some of the challenges behind her success.

There were also plenty of memorable thoughts to take away from the evening — the importance of continually improving what we do, knowing when we're not at our best for making decisions, and her determination to keep going for as long as she is able.

One thought particularly captured Sarah's enthusiasm for creativity: a blank piece of paper is a wonderful opportunity.

The evening concluded with a lively question-and-answer session, including an interesting discussion about climate change and how our gardens may need to evolve in the future.

A terrific turnout, a fascinating speaker and a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Our thanks to Sarah for such an engaging and thought-provoking presentation.