A Contemporary Garden in Hertfordshire

The split-level garden was laid largely to lawn, with a lower terrace area. The clients were keen to create a dynamic space, filled with plants that provided as much interest as possible through the year, to be enjoyed not only whilst in the garden but also to create interesting views from the house.

We took out the lawn completely and instead created a sinuous path which weaves between large borders filled with a mixture of shrubs, grasses, perennials and bulbs and which leads to different seating areas and a small summerhouse. By moving around and between the plants and with several stopping places amongst the planting, the view within the garden changes constantly, making the space feel larger and more dynamic.

The lower level remained a terrace with space for a large table and variety of pots collected by the clients over the years. A raised border flanks the side of the terrace and provided the link between the two main areas.

A Cotswolds GardeN

The bones of the garden were good, with lovely, mature trees and hedging. However, some of the borders had become overrun and the garden had lost definition. The clients wanted to regenerate and develop the garden to provide distinct spaces for their family and friends to relax and enjoy time outside, as well as to create a productive kitchen garden.

The garden has been gradually formed over time, with the kitchen garden, large herbaceous borders and a redesigned driveway and parking areas created initially. Then the seating and dining areas were installed and finally a pool surrounded with generous areas of planting.

A Farmhouse in South Oxfordshire

The space surrounding the old farmhouse had been largely neglected before the clients moved in and renovated both the house and the garden. The brief was simply to make as much use of the outside space as possible, to create space for entertaining, as well as areas for the children to be able to play and roam.

Areas of lawn, contrast with large meadow areas, filled with drifts of perennial meadow plants and bulbs. More formal borders filled with shrubs, herbaceous perennials and grasses surrounded the front of the house and a series of raised beds were built to provide a sense of enclosure and privacy around the new dining and seating areas. A topiarised yew garden was planted in part of the old driveway. Finally an enclosed kitchen garden was created, to protect the produce from any wandering wildlife and a new greenhouse was installed where the original one had once stood.

A Cottage Garden in West Berks

The clients needed some help overhauling their main planting areas. This was achieved through introducing a greater variety of planting to extend the flowering season and to add interest and balance through repeating waves of differing heights, forms and colour.

A meadow was created in the orchard and planted with spring and early summer bulbs and meadow perennials to give a long season of interest and to attract wildlife.

A Cottage in Wiltshire

The client is a keen gardener who wanted to have several areas of planting, a small orchard and a kitchen garden. The long, narrow plot needed completely overhauling.

The old, mismatched fencing was replaced with a horizontal slatted version, which allowed light through the fence, breaking up the solidity of the boundaries and helped to move the eye through the space. Espaliered fruit trees were planted along the fence to create an orchard in the limited space available. A series of square borders filled with a mixture of shrubs and herbaceous planting were set at intervals along the boundaries.

A terrace was built near the house and towards the end of the garden, a kitchen garden with cedar greenhouse was built, along with a secondary seating area to take advantage of the evening sun.

A Garden for a contemporary house in South Oxfordshire

The new build contemporary house has a wonderful woodland area on its outer boundary and views through to the surrounding fields and beech woods. The brief was to bed the house within its surroundings and to retain the views through to its wider surroundings. The lines between the interior and exterior were blurred, with the establishment of a series of large borders immediately surrounding the house. These were filled with a careful selection of ‘see through planting’: grasses, open flowering perennials and carefully chosen shrubs, which retained light and the view from inside the house, through the planting, to the wider landscape.

Other areas of planting were introduced to soften the building and because the garden wrapped around the house, this meant that some of these were in full shade, whilst others were in full sun. This provided a marvellous opportunity to use a wide planting palette suitable for the range of conditions.

A series of specimen trees were planted in the lawn to soften the divide between the more formal areas of garden and its surroundings.

A small family garden in Chelsea

The clients wanted a family friendly space with a cottage garden feel to the planting, as a contrast to the urban location. A raised terrace was installed at the far end of the garden, with a small outdoor kitchen area. A series of raised borders to maximize the planting areas were created, which were planted with a mixture of long flowering perennials, punctuated with evergreen structure. A specimen apple tree was planted at the end of the garden, not only to further soften the overall effect, add height and provide some much needed dappled shade, but also as a nod to the area’s historic market gardens, that onced flourished in the area.

An Old Rectory, Oxfordshire

The land surrounding the property alternates between relatively flat areas and steep banks and access to these different levels and areas was tricky. The area immediately around the house needed to be redesigned to take account of a new extension. We created terraces, lawns and large areas of planting to soften the buildings and the hard landscaping. New paths and steps and brick and flint retaining walls were built linking the different areas of the garden.

A Garden in Surrey

Working with Hugh Netley Design, we were asked to create a family friendly garden, with areas for the children to play, as well as areas for relaxing and entertaining. The site had several changes of level that needed to be rationalised and linked to make a cohesive space.

A large terrace was installed with separate seating and dining areas, divided and flanked by large borders filled with a mix of flowering shrubs, grasses and perennials. A series of umbrella pleached trees were introduced to add vertical interest. A further area with bespoke seating was commissioned surrounded by deep planting for year round interest. The borders around the terrace were characterised by a more formal flavour, whilst the borders installed to add visual interest to the mass of conifer hedging beyond, were bolder, with a more naturalistic feel.

A wooden swing, sunken trampoline and large lawn area for ball sports were installed and a stepped path with herringbone brick was laid, linking the lower garden with the upper area.

Herbaceous garden in West Berkshire

The brief was to overhaul the area around the house, where the old driveway and parking had originally been, to create a new seating area and areas of planting, as well as to replant the original herbaceous border that ran along the garden wall. I was subsequently asked to advise on the area around the pool and help soften the hard landscaping.

The forty metre long herbaceous border was overrun with weeds and needed redesigning. The yew hedges that punctuated the border, were retained and reshaped to form ‘living buttresses’ providing vertical accents through the planting. The border was replanted in bold drifts of herbaceous perennials, grasses and bulbs, chosen for their long flowering season, colour and variety of forms.

The old parking area was made into a seating and dining area, flanked by wide shaped borders filled with grasses, roses and perennials. Careful lighting was introduced in the border to add some night time interest, but without impacting the rural setting.