The brief is to create a character family garden that is reminiscent of a French holiday, with the sound of running water, the warm tones of sandy limestone and the scrunch of gravel underfoot. There should be lots of plants visible from inside the house, seating in the sun by the house, comfy sofas, ambient lights and lots of character. They wanted to use natural earthy materials in the garden with gentle tumbled edges that can only be found on natural stone and a larger curved lawn for the new baby due soon.

Design Rationale

The garden was already full of character with a curved York stone path and plenty of mature planting. The design creates a French style family garden with three different usble areas that flow seemlessly from one to the other, whilst retaining many of the lovely existing features.

A small terrace outside the house in random length limestone is surrounded by plants and leads to an enclosed outdoor lounge laid to tumbled limestone cobbles in a herringbone pattern. A globe ball sits on a plinth on a limestone gravel bed surrounded by plants and is both audible and visible from the house and lounging terrace. A beautiful vase shaped Amelanchier tree will give the water feature a pretty flowering backdrop and the plants will be soft, arching and evergreen to look good all year.

The existing curved York stone path and low brick raised bed are retained and modified to lead the user to an enclosed hidden dining area on a gravel bed amongst plants with the larger lawn opposite.

To the rear the garden room will be painted and refurbished in earthy tones and clad with a scented white wisteria and underneath will sit an outdoor cooking area with Green Egg BBQ and comfy chairs nestled under the hanging plants.