THE BRIEF:

The initial phase of landscaping this garden was a massive clearout of all structures, trees, plants etc in order to see the true size of the garden space. This involved the removal of large trees that had become too big for the space and clearing out years of accumulated features that no longer served the needs of the new owners.

After a year of extensive remodelling and rebuilding works had been undertaken on this large town house in Richmond we were asked to come up with a design that would be sympathetic with a house of this period but still be functional and modern.

FRONT GARDEN

We decided to have the front garden/drive entirely traditional with a Cobblestone 'Granite Sett' parking zone, laid in a circular motif. A chequerboard pattern, long front path edged with Victorian rope tiles leading to the front door. A 'Hidcote' Lavender hedge along the path with clipped Box and Daffodils was used to give a period formality along the path. In front of the bay window we continued the Box with Balls and cones interplanted with 'Iceberg' Roses. New deluxe fencing was installed with decorative trellis atop and this planted with a mature Yew hedge and several Trachelospermum 'Jasmine' climbers. The red Brick piers were built to match the house front and to accomodate the bespoke gates and letterbox

BACK GARDEN

The back garden allowed us to be more creative in terms of design. Again the outline brief was to create as much space as possible but still have a play area, borders and flowers. We kept the borders very narrow and used Arcadian edging to delineate the lawn boundary. Again using Lavender, but this time 'Old English', and clipped Box gave us a neat appearance but also 'tied' the front and back gardens together. Standard 'Iceberg' Roses were planted this time and Bay cones give some much needed height to the planting. At the back of the garden we custom built a dual purpose 'shed/fort' which serves as a storage area for bikes/mower etc and a play house for the children. On the other side we sank a large Trampoline so as to reduce its impact on the aesthetics of the garden.

The Patio was laid with 'new' Crosley Yorkstone, which is entirely authentic in this setting but with a lighter tone than the old stuff.

The old 'listed' wall at the back was found to be seriously unstable, so it was necessary to mostly take it down brick by brick and rebuild it using new mortar and reclaimed mixed imperial bricks

Finally an acrylic mirror was mounted against the back wall to give a vanishing point, leading the eye into an imaginary space beyond and 'mood' lighting installed, throwing shadows across the new lawn and uplighting the new ghost white Birch trees

© GardenWorks.co.uk

© GardenWorks.co.uk