In 1989 Julian and his wife
Isabel were invited to join a team building a modern grotto under a work of British sculptor
Simon Verity at
Leeds Castle in Kent. This led to their first major commission by
Jacob Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor where they re-purposed the Dairy Buildings into an office and events venue and restored the water and rock gardens at the Dairy. Their work there won Civic Trust and Europa Nostra awards. They were commissioned to create a
stumpery at Highgrove House by King Charles III in the late 1990s. Their rejuvenation of the five-acre walled garden at the
Marquess of Cholmondeley’s Houghton Hall also won an award. The Bannermans sold The Ivy in 1993 and moved to Hanham Court near Bristol, where they restored the court and created a garden open to the public. In 2000 the couple was asked by
Simon Sainsbury and Stewart Grimshaw to redesign the Entrance garden and Pleasure Grounds area and enhance the Long Walk at
Woolbeding House in
Sussex. They were commissioned in 2001 by
Jigsaw founder John Robinson to design and develop the garden at Euridge Manor Farm in Wiltshire, now a wedding venue. There the pair also designed and built a modern medieval abbey in which the garden is set. The Bannermans were subsequently commissioned by the Duke and
Duchess of Norfolk to create "The Collector Earl’s Garden” at Arundel Castle in Sussex. After receiving an invitation to enter a competition to come up with a design, the duo completed the
Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden in 2010. The garden is located in Hanover Square in the Financial District of New York City and commemorates the 67 British victims of the 11 September 2001 attack on the
World Trade Center.
Queen Elizabeth II attended the opening on 6 July 2010. The Bannermans moved on to
Trematon Castle in 2012, leased from the
Duchy of Cornwall and another garden was created in the grounds, which included a medieval keep. The couple also designed the garden at
Wormsley Park, Buckinghamshire for
John Paul Getty II and have played a major role in redesigning the gardens of
Dumfries House in
Ayrshire. In 2019, they moved to Ashington Manor in
Somerset, which is also being renovated and improved with a newly created garden and orchards. The Bannermans have appeared as speakers at various gardening and literary festivals over the course of their careers, including The Chalke Valley History Festival, The Garden Museum Literary Festival, Charleston Festival of the Garden and Dartington Hall Ways with Words. ==Awards and honors==