The garden is often the last project tackled when refurbishing a home. This was the case here, where our clients had recently finished their living/ garden room and were finally ready to tackle the outside space. The living room overlooked the whole garden and they wanted a garden to complement it. Some years previously, the garden had been extended by acquiring extra land, but the two spaces had not been effectively combined.
There was a large Swiss-style timber chalet, which took up one corner of the garden, and a large shed positioned close to the house in another corner. We decided to remove the chalet completely as it was never used. The shed was considered too large, so we rebuilt it, reducing the size and adding a new cedar shingle roof and high level glazing to let in light without compromising security.
The new shed made maximum use of a sunny corner and left us enough room in front to put a pond, which is accessed via an oak sleeper bridge. The plants at the back of the pond help to soften the outline of the shed. We then positioned a circular patio in the far corner of the garden. Our clients wanted a shady sitting area and we included a fan pergola over it, which a wisteria could climb.
Nearer the house we planned a raised deck, which is reached from the ground floor by two steps.
The deck fans out from the side door of the house around the outside of a new extension and ending at a small stone patio, which gets sun for most of the day. A raised oak sleeper bed and vertical timber boarding help screen the neighbour’s brick garage on this side of the garden. In front of the deck are two symmetrical oak planters and running between them is the gravelled entrance to the central lawn. In the planters are mostly grasses and small shrubs, which help to soften the extension.
The front of the oak beds are curved to match the circular shape of the lawn and we struggled to find suitably-shaped wood to cap them. After an extensive search of Bendry Brothers’ timber supplies, we chose a perfectly- shaped oak beam and had it sliced to produce two identical capping pieces, one for each bed. They double up as seating. Bricks edge the circular lawn, which helps keep it neat when mowing, and around the lawn are two gravel areas, one of which is planted with grasses.
We were able to lay a completely circular lawn because the garden is square shaped, which gives a
magnified feeling of space. It also leaves corners of the garden (which are often underused) as ideal spots for the shed and sitting areas. Space is always at a premium in urban gardens and we have used this trick many times to create a calm clearing in the “urban jungle”.
Contact Tom at All-Garden Designs on 0117 951 1923, or 07739 456765.
http://www.allgardendesigns.co.uk/
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