The children of the owners of this house had grown up and they no longer needed the garden to be a play area. It had been laid mainly to grass with an out-dated path down the side of the house.
They wanted to transform the garden into a grown up space where they could sit outside at the end of a hard day at work enjoying the last of the evening sun. Top of the list was a place to eat and entertain outside. The ground was quite heavy and retained a lot of moisture, so they asked for all the lawn to be lifted and for the garden to be as as low maintenance as possible. |
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Lastly, they wanted a small water feature and an Japanese Maple tree and plants that look after themselves as much as possible. The turf was lifed and all the stone paths were cleared. This garden was very shallow and wide in shape, so the large natural stone patio was laid at an angle to the house giving the illusion of extra depth. A path made from the same stone led from the house out to the terrace area, and another one along the side of the house to give easy access to the washing line as well as making it easy to manoeuvre a wheely bin. |
New steps were built in the same stone and the surrounding wall was repainted in a neutral shade. Electricity was run from the house to the corner, where a stone ball water feature was sited. A dark red Japanese Maple, Acer 'Bloodgood' was planted behind it. |
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Two beds were created in shapes to echo the patio. After being well manured for extra drainage, they were planted with a variety of shrubs, phormium, ferns and grasses. Flint gravel was chosen for low maintenance ground cover, in a shade trying the whole space together.  |
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