T hey say some people are simply made for their partners – two halves of the same sky. When you meet sculptor Julieann Worrall Hood and her garden designer husband Nick, you understand exactly what they mean.

They were childhood sweethearts from the age of 17, have been married for 17 years, and are raising their three children in amid the beauty of rural Wiltshire.

But it's the effortless meeting of their professional lives that's most notable.

Julieann's world of sculpture and Nick's garden design mean the couple are very much a team. "We never really made a conscious decision to work together," Julieann says. "But it happens naturally.

"So much so, we even combined our websites recently – because the sort of person who's interested in Nick's garden design would also like my work, and vice versa."

The couple's home, near Pewsey, is a hive of activity, with Julieann's workshop surrounded by Nick's plants in the garden.

Add to the scene eldest daughter Ella, 12, twins George and Harry, nine, and a couple of scampering Jack Russells, and it becomes an idyllic family environment. The couple moved to Wiltshire in 1990, after both being raised in Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham.

"After leaving school, I went to Edinburgh College of Art and Nick went to Cannington College to study horticulture," Julieann explains. "Then we lived in Wakefield, Yorkshire, for a few years, before we finally decided to move to Wiltshire because Nick's cousin was running his own horticulture business here. It was an opportunity for him to learn more about the trade."

After graduating, Julieann had received an Arts Council grant to study tapestry weaving, but sculpture had always been her real passion.

"I spent a year as artist in residence for the county of Somerset a few years ago, and that introduced me to the wonders of willow as a medium," she says.

"That really allowed me to develop creatively in a whole new direction."

It also led to her first sculptures of boxing hares – which have become something of a trademark in Julieann's portfolio.

"I always loved watching hares," she says. "They're such beautiful animals. I'd sit and sketch them for hours.

"When I started to experiment with willow, I realised the shapes cast by the wood were very similar in style and form to the way I sketched.

"I had been commissioned to create a piece of public art for the Puthall Sculpture Park in Marlborough, so I decided to create a three- dimensional version of my sketched hares.

"They were very popular. So much so, that lots of people have asked me to create similar hares since.

"I've now started making them from metal wire – which is more durable and lasts longer than willow."

Julieann has also been commissioned to create pieces of public art for the Cotswold Water Park – a pair of steel bitterns – and a mosaic to act as a centrepiece for a new housing development by David Wilson Homes in Basingstoke.

"It's great for artists, because housing developers are required to incorporate pieces of public art and communal spaces in their new estates these days," Julieann explains.

"Recently, we were shortlisted and commissioned to draw up a design and make a model for a new Barratt Homes building development, Page Court, in Downend, Bristol.

"I took my inspiration from the 1930s housing in the area and a particular original 1930s window – one of the those stained-glass ones you get above the front door.

"I took the shape of the window as a pattern – laying out pathways in the lines created by the leading in the window.

"With Nick's plantsmanship, we incorporated wonderful box hedge balls. We called it a Garden Square.

"The idea was that it would be somewhere useful, with paths and seating, but also with artistic details such as mosaic paving, sculptural planting and trees to create places to rest and contemplate.

"Although we narrowly missed out on being awarded the final commission for that site, our proposal got the local people's vote in a poll at Downend library and the support of local councillors who are now fundraising to have it created as a larger public park in the area."

Nick has developed his passion for plants a long way since moving down to Wiltshire.

He has now set up his own garden design consultancy, and has an impressive portfolio of lavish gardens across Wiltshire.

"As well as the garden design, I also work as a peripatetic head gardener to five large gardens in the county – some of which are more than 20 acres."

Among his recent clients is High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Madeline Wilks, whose elegant garden – just a few miles from Nick's and Julieann's home – is a testament to the pair's exquisite eye to detail.

"Julieann and I work together very well," Nick says. "She's able to bring a sculptural eye to any gardens I'm designing, while I can focus on my own specialism – which is the plants.

"And it's not just about Julieann making pieces of sculpture for the gardens – she tends to see the shapes the plants will make in her mind – that's all to do with having a sculptor's eye.

"She also paints beautiful flowering schemes for my clients – so they know exactly what plants I've planted where."

Together, Julieann and Nick make a good team. "We enjoy working together," Nick says. "And our styles do tend to lend themselves to each others' work.

"Sometimes Julieann is able to offer help to me, and sometimes I can offer it to her.

"For example, she's done a lot of design work for the Watermill theatre in Newbury.

"A few years ago, they had a space to fill outside the theatre. They'd seen Julieann's pictures of flowers, and had said it would be lovely if they could just transport them straight there.

"I mentioned that I'd read about a medieval practice called 'flowery meads', which involved wealthy landowners having large squares of turf cut out of meadows and placed in the lawns of their manor houses.

"Together we were able to develop a design based on that idea. That was the first time we'd worked together directly, and it came together very well.

"We knew we'd work together more and more, and it has just grown organically ever since."

For more details about Julieann's and Nick's work, visit their website at www.woho.co.uk