A GEORGIAN house in a Buckinghamshire village with a sunken garden landscaped by a Chelsea gold medallist is on the books of a London-based estate agency called The Modern House.

This weekend seven times gold medal winner Andy Sturgeon will be putting the finishing touches to the show garden he has designed for M&G Investments, the main sponsor at next week’s Flower Show. No doubt he’s hoping it will win him his eighth gong. Twice he’s received the ultimate accolade of Best in Show.

Back in 2004 when artist Lyndsey Keeling and her husband Dennis asked him to redesign the garden at the back of the 200 year old house they’d just bought in Great Missenden, the landscaper was a young unknown.

Dennis says: “We first saw his work when we were living in Speen next door but one to a couple who commissioned him to landscape their garden.

He did a wonderful job for them which was why we wanted him to do our garden in Missenden. We were lucky to find him before he started winning gold medals. Since he worked for us he has twice been voted one of the top designers in the UK.”

Dennis is a highly skilled craftsman himself.

He was among the first in the country to practise the art of segmented wood turning, shaping contrasting types of wood on a lathe before fitting them together to create an object which is functional as well as decorative.

He’s written books and lectures on the art form in the US and the UK.

After the Keelings bought the handsome double fronted house on the corner of Church Street and High Street they also commissioned a top firm of architects, Aldington, Craig and Collinge to renovate and update the interior.

The architects first gained recognition in the 1960s for the design of three modern houses with equally special gardens in the ancient village of Haddenham on the Bucks/Oxon border.

Forty years later the practice renovated and sensitively updated No 1 Church Street for the Keelings.

They also replaced a couple of derelict outbuildings in the back garden with a space age artist’s studio for Lyndsey and a workshop for Dennis.

Lyndsey’s studio has a mezzanine level and double height doors opening onto Andrew Sturgeon’s garden with its koi carp pond and shrub border producing year-round colour.

Dennis’s workshop also has a mezzanine level. It’s by far the largest of the two outbuildings.

The agents believe there’s obvious potential in both studios to add to the living accommodation.

The main house has two reception rooms either side of the hall by the front door – the sitting room is on one side, the study on the other.

Moving through, the open plan dining area flows into the kitchen lined with Miele appliances.

Back in the dining area, a glass and maple contemporary staircase takes you up to the first floor living room. At this end of the house two bedrooms share a Jack and Jill bathroom. The master suite is at the opposite end of the first floor.

Having spent 15 fulfilling years in Missenden, Lyndsey and Dennis fancy a change of scene.

They’re considering a move to the Cotswolds which is why No I Church Street is on the market at The Modern House for £1.5m.

.