About This Project

This front garden belongs to one of the oldest properties in the area. The owners had just finished renovating the house itself, and their attention now turned to the front garden. They wanted to create an entrance worthy of the house, and which would respect the character of the property. 

The existing front garden was really just a glorified path from the pavement to the front door, lined with Box and with the remains of a lawn on either side. There was already an established Thuja hedge, which we retained, and the clients were keen to re-use the lovely old flagstones from the house and the garden path. Everything else in the garden could be removed, apart from a metal railing, which was listed along with the house.

As soon as I surveyed the site, it was clear that we had much more space to play with than it had first appeared. I was keen to open the space up laterally, and to create not only a generous central paved area, but also two smaller paved areas flanking this. We sourced more reclaimed flagstones for this paving, which created extra work and head-scratching for the landscapers, but which ultimately provided the finish that we wanted to achieve. An edging detail was created using Dutch clay pavers laid on end, in a dark charcoal colour that matched the historic render on the house.

Although the layout of this garden suggests symmetry, the two sides of the design are in fact different. This was primarily due to the different levels that we had to work with, but it also acknowledges the quirky asymmetry of the house. Both flanks have formal planting pits with standard Photinias, but on one side we installed a fountain and a low retaining wall, and on the other, a painted bin store.

I was keen to echo the colour scheme of the house in the planting. My mood board contained plenty of smoky grey/purple leaves (Heuchera, Athyrium, Weigela) and lots of deep red/purple flowers (Astrantia, Aquilegia, Hellebore, Pulmonaria and Penstemon). This was lifted by the creamy tones of Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’, grown as a short climber, and clouds of London Pride.