William George from Ashcroft Langton

This feature appeared in our London Blooms  2025 special edition celebrating spring

FROM overseeing large residential landscaping projects and commercial grounds maintenance contracts to nurturing unloved bits of London’s outdoor spaces, gardener William George creates and looks after plots of greenery – and helps people to become more self-sufficient at the same time.

William, 28, runs Ashcroft Langton, a landscaping, gardening company, and a general contracting business.

It began with his grandfather William, who inspired him in the joy of building things and looking after the land.

His grandparents moved to Pembrokeshire, west Wales, having spent £2,000 on a rundown house with no electricity in 1965.

“The house didn’t even have a track up to it, so my mother Harriette and her siblings would haul all their gear, including bedding, up the hill to the house,” he recalls.

This early example of off-grid living, inspired William to eventually help others to do the same – live simply, with the option to be off-grid.

“By the time I was born, my grandparents had renovated the property so they could live there, and cleared much of the jungle like brambles and bracken which filled the forest we lovingly call ‘the valley,’” he recalls.

“We spent many holidays clearing the valley, planting trees, and getting stuck into tree surgery. I remember when I was about 12 years old my grandad gave me my first go on the chainsaw – he used to go up ladders at the ripe old age of 75 with a chainsaw, and do bits of quite difficult work. He taught me that hard work does you good.”

The joy that William’s grandparents took in looking after their little bit of woodland in Wales inspired him to get to work on a rundown car park on his mum’s Peabody Estate in Whitecross Street, EC1.

“I grew up in Old Street and there was a large car park in front of our home,” he adds.

“Mum had an allotment in Arsenal where we grew food and where we had some of the happiest moments together, but the square on the estate was a pretty unloved space, with cracked tarmac and broken bike sheds. When the bike sheds were eventually cleared, I thought: ‘I want to do something here.’”

“Our downstairs neighbour, Phil, a great guy who taught his three kids bushcraft skills and building skills, had previously built raised beds in the square, which needed replacing. A friend of mine who runs a gallery, Kunstraum, in Islington, helped me to design and build 36 benches and planters for the estate and the area.

“We secured funding from various places and midway through the project, when we thought we had run out of money, the Mayor of London gave us the extra funding to complete it. We got families and kids to paint the benches. They looked great.”

During his university degree he needed work a friend offered to put him in touch with a gardening agency.

He worked at Gunnersbury Park, under a head gardener who inspired him to pursue the career, and with some other really talented botanists and landscapers.

He now looks after large residential garden builds, commercial ground maintenance contracts, and more.

His company assists its clients in all aspects of transforming and main­taining their outdoor spaces.

He also worked for two hard landscaping companies, including FMN, where the director Roman and landscape foreman Josh inspired William with their work ethic and camaraderie.

“I was a student, pretty hard up as students are, and I said a prayer – I needed work. A friend’s dad suggested gardening,” he recalls.

“Being given the opportunity to take on responsibility, get on the tools, and learn new skills at the companies I worked with has given me the desire to help to get young people in particular to become skilled and get involved with exciting projects.

“Manual skills are so valuable to the economy, it is becoming in fact more important for young people to learn manual and creative skills, to learn how to build something, create something tangible.

“AI is going to transform every area of the economy, including my sector, but it will be a while until we see robots doing tree surgery, or building brick walls. I am pro-technology in my business, but I love being outdoors, and giving jobs to people who also want to do something active, and I want to help my clients to rediscover the joy of being in their gardens and outdoor spaces too.”

On William’s radar is helping more people and businesses make the most of their outdoor spaces, whether that is maintaining them, or completely redesigning and building new gardens.

“I would like to do more work with businesses to see how we can maximise their outdoor spaces to benefit their employees, and other organisations such as schools, or developers who want an inspired approach to their outdoor spaces,” he adds.

William has his sights set on a new side of what Ashcroft Langton does for clients, drawing on his grandfather’s off-grid lifestyle.

“I want to help consult people on how to go off-grid, in the countryside, but even in the city,” he adds.

“We are living in uncertain and trying times, I think it is time people started considering their options for growing food, generating renew­able energy in their back garden and having a plan for when things go wrong.

“We have massive challenges in the coming years, I want to help people to get prepared for some of those things that could be fast approaching. This is a service we are now offering to our clients, a full consultancy and build service on how to be more self-sufficient for hard times”

Some of those trees which William planted with his grandad in Wales are now growing to maturity, and like William George’s business, are bearing fruit.

“I love seeing the fruits of our labour, and helping people to enjoy their outdoor spaces, to grow trees and food every­where. I want to create a little bit of paradise in London,” he adds.

“If you or your organisation would like some help managing or transforming your outdoor space, get in touch.”

More information: www.ashcroft-langton.co.uk