<<   Gill Hale, Feng Shui garden designer and author of The Feng Shui Garden, explains her guiding principles very simply. "You should always respect the spirit of the place. A Feng Shui garden is a well-designed garden, with year-round interest, balance and eco-systems that work." The key Chinese phrase is wu wei - non-interference with nature. And she should know - as a gardener of some 20 years' experience and 8 years' study of Feng Shui, she also gardens organically and plants according to the moon's cycles.

The world's best examples of Feng Shui gardens are to be found in Suzhou in eastern China, the centre of Chinese garden design, or the traditionally designed Japanese gardens. In Britain, visit Tatton Park in Knutsford, Cheshire (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) set out early in the 20th century, according to Japanese principles, incorporating the five elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal, and yin and yang. 

The Feng Shui Society (www.FengShuiSociety.org.uk) can put you in touch with Feng Shui garden designers.