Woodside, Ambleside
Our client approached us with a request to turn a tired cottage garden into a low-maintenance, contemporary escape. The existing garden space was dominated by a mounded lawn, edged with a thick leylandii hedge and several shrubs along the boundary.
The new garden space must provide seating areas for morning, afternoon and evening to make the most of the position of the sun throughout the day. And for the evening, there must be an area with a fire pit.
When it came to planting, the client particularly requested that the view into the field from the garden was not obscured. A boundary partition to replace the leylandii hedge must be narrower to give precious space back to the garden, as well as to screen the garden from the upstairs views of the next-door house.
The clients were keen for us to create a contemporary, low maintenance garden that they could enjoy throughout the year.
The Solution
The first job was to remove the lawn and adjust the ground levels, creating a lower space, with a higher border rising above. This way the circular fire pit area could be tucked into the bank, creating a cosy and enclosed space for entertaining. The majority of the garden would now be on the same level as the house, creating an eyeline directly from the internal space across the beautifully planted borders.
On the East side of the house, a breakfast patio was positioned in a quiet corner, accessed by a French window from within and a path running through steel edged borders to access the rest of the garden.
A further patio was created on the South-Western side of the house, with direct step-out access from the kitchen/diner. This sunny corner of the garden makes a perfect dining area, with vistas across the Corten steel-edged borders, and into the fields beyond. The fallen field-wall remains untouched to retain the rustic connection with the natural landscape beyond.
Emerging from the upper garden, a circular dry-stone wall with an internal slate bench encircles a graveled centre, where a Corten steel fire bowl takes centre stage.
A gravel pathway winds around the rectangular borders, which are planted with tall grasses such as Miscanthus Morning Light, delicate swaying flowers such as Gaura Whirling Butterflies and structural stems such as Allium sphaerocephalon. The planting structure remains long after the leaves have fallen in the Autumn, a monochrome palette of ochre catching the frost on its varied textures during the Winter.
The leylandii hedge was taken out, and replaced with a deep green hedge of Prunus lusitanica, or Portuguese Laurel. To increase the height and to add variety of texture, a row of pleached Ilex Nellie Stevens was planted at intervals along the length of the hedge. The berries of these will not only add a vibrant splash of colour in the Winter months, but will also feed to birds as the cold weather kicks in.
The Outcome
A contemporary garden, with neat angles, Corten steel, pleached trees and topiary. Hard materials and sharp angles are juxtaposed with soft planting and swaying grasses.
The distinct atmosphere of each room within the garden is created using different planting for each space. Each garden room is connected by several plants in common, bringing a feeling of cohesion and continuity to the whole. Grasses of differing heights link the garden planting with the landscape beyond. Colour is used judiciously, keeping to whites, purples and greens to create a sophisticated, muted palette.
The plants chosen for screening have been positioned carefully to allow views through to the woodland beyond. This sympathetically contemporary design seamlessly joins the natural environment with the structured elements of a softly formal garden. House and garden connecting with nature at this idyllic woodland edge location.
“Many thanks for all your hard work. The garden is looking fab as the plants are growing into the space.”
James
