The Brief

To construct an aesthetic and practical link between the house and garden – creating an inviting place for the adults and a flexible space for the children.

The aim was to design a cosy and contemporary garden that provides areas for the barbecue, for dining, for lounging and for playing without becoming cluttered.  The bespoke built-in larch timber seating efficiently makes the most out of the space, while locating it on a raised platform helps to capitalise on westerly evening light. Together with the raised bed, the height changes both break up and define the different areas within the garden.

A beautiful, slatted larch-clad screen and a pleached Elaeagnus hedge define the boundaries and ensure year-round privacy.  The fabulous evergreen leaves of the Elaeagnus flash metallic in the breeze, picking up the silver foliage of the Astelia in three tall pots, while their texture echo the pebbles laid in strips on the lower terrace.   All the pebbles and paving were reused from the previous garden, helping to increase the sustainability of the project, reduce the budget and assist with the tricky logistics of this terraced house garden.

This garden is unified through even the smallest of details:  patterned encaustic tiles enhance the visual flow from the indoor kitchen out, herbs in wall-hung pots are pleasingly within reaching-distance from the built-in barbecue table, and a ground-level water bowl produces a soothing audio backdrop.  Gentle up-lighting on the specimen shrubs Amelanchier and Cornus kousa lift the space in the evening, ensuring the garden can be used well-past sunset in the warmer months and providing visual interest in the colder ones.