Garden Style in the Countryside
Our clients for this garden design project were a design conscious semi-retired couple. They had recently relocated to a Barn Conversion just outside Needham Market from London.
Having created a stylish home internally, they were ready to bring the same level of sophistication to their garden.
The Garden Design Brief
Set in rural Suffolk, the property had been recently converted although little attention had been paid to the garden which was primarily lawn. The clients were keen to bring more interest to the garden but also wanted to maintain a sense of space.
There were good views across the neighbouring farming lands and in particular to the west where the best vantage point was from the primary bedroom. The clients had two dogs and wanted to keep a generous amount of lawn for them to play. However this needed to be balanced with the clients desire to create more interest.
Primarily the clients would be enjoying the garden with their adult children when they visited. This included hosting occasional barbecues with friends and family. Places to sit in sun and shade were essential. Large dining room doors in the centre of the house opened on to the garden so there needed to be good view throughout the year.
There was some existing planting which the clients wanted to include in the new design. Overall, the clients wanted a low maintenance garden. An area to store old pots and compost was also required.
Garden Design Challenges
To the northeast were neighbouring houses and whilst the garden was not heavily overlooked, windows from the nearby properties did face into the garden. Therefore some means of screening these houses to create more privacy was required.
The garden was exposed to wind and an existing hedge around the boundary was doing little to reduce the impact of this. The soil was extremely heavy clay which means that planting must be able to take the wet conditions during winter and harsher drought tolerant conditions of clay through the summer months once it has dried out.
There was not a consensus between the clients about planting colour preferences with the husband preferring hot, bolder colours such as yellows and orange while the wife wanted more muted, cooler tones such as mauves and whites.
A section to the west near the primary ground floor bedroom lacked purpose and felt more like a transitional zone. The new design needed to create a stronger aesthetic in this area. Part of the garden design challenge was that the land fell away from the main property quite significantly. The new design needed to address this and ensure using this area was more practical. A nearby septic tank was also an eye sore.
Creating a sense of style in the garden
The clients wanted to pursue a classical approach which balanced nature with some modern touches.
Garden Design Solution: We always approach our garden designs by looking at the garden as a cohesive whole. In doing this, we are ensuring that the end design has good flow and that all areas of the garden work together.
To address the desire to balance a generous sized lawn with creating interest, we included a series of lower hedges to an approximate height of 1-1.2 meters. Partly, these helped to create different zones within the garden which we will address in more detail below. However, in positioning the nearest hedge to the garden door about two thirds of the garden depth away, we were able to maintain that sense of the space and good sized lawn that the clients had asked for.
The hedges were designed to flow harmoniously around the garden in sweeping curves. Focusing on curves rather than geometric shapes ensured there was a natural, more organic look and feel to the garden. The hedges had several important impacts. Firstly, they created a partial barrier of visibility. This meant the garden was not ‘giving away all of her secrets’. We always recommend that gardens have a level secrecy. A good garden should be one that everyone can enjoy exploring regardless of age – toddlers to retirees should be able to roam a garden and make discoveries; discoveries that can not be seen from the house or main terrace at eye level.
Using Planting to Provide Garden Structure
Hedges are great at reducing the effects of wind. Where wind will funnel over a wall and gain momentum, hedges will soften the effect and slow wind speed. One hedge on its own will help but a series of hedges will start to have a more notable impact. In this respect, we are looking to address the difficult and unavoidable issue of wind with a series of 1% gains.
The other impact of the hedging was to create different zones. One of the effects of this was that while one of the clients wanted softer cooler colours for the planting, the other was keen to include hotter, brighter colours. As a compromise, our garden design offered a solution whereby we could include blues and purples near the house and warmer more vivid colours further into the garden. By ‘hiding’ some of the stronger colours behind the hedging, they became a bright surprise. This design for the planting borders also ensured that, in mixing up the full spectrum of the colour scheme, there wasn’t too much going on. Instead, the hedges acted as a physical barrier and limited the amount of planting (and garden) that could be taken in all at once. Ultimately, this meant that the garden fulfilled the client’s request for look of simple elegance.
Which Hedging to Use
For the hedging, we chose to use Carpinus betulus otherwise known as hornbeam. This was chosen as it is well suited to heavy clay soil and will tolerate the wind. Carpinus will grow relatively quickly at 1 – 2’ a year (up to 60cm on average) giving the clients a thick and dense hedge within a few seasons following planting. Carpinus is also a great wildlife friendly option; a dense hedge can provide a place for birds and small mammals to nest and shelter. Additionally, the leaf mold is a great addition to the compost heap. Once this has broken down, using this as a mulch will help break down the heavy clay soils. Carpinus is a deciduous plant meaning that it loses it’s leaves during the winter months. However, in relatively mild gardens, it can retain the older brown leaves which helps gives the garden extra structure.
Adding Character & Charm to Gardens
We chose a louvred pergola from London Stone. These aluminium structures are bolted down so are perfectly secured place. They have narrow steel panels which run across the pergola overhead as with a traditional structure.
However on a louvred pergola these can rotate to allow more or less sun in as desired. When fully rotated to the ‘shut’ position, they then prevent the rain coming through.
This is a great solution for when we have those summer downpours; clients can then sit out the rain under the pergola or, at the very least, the roof will keep the furniture dry. Client’s on this project also liked this option as it offers them shelter for when their dogs need to use the garden during the wetter seasons.
Worth noting also that this pergola has hidden screens which can be pulled down on all four sides. The clients have since told us that they feel that these screens serve to block out up to 90% of the effects of the wind which has made a huge improvement to their enjoyment of the garden.
Garden Seating for Sun & Shade
The clients wanted spaces to sit in both the sun and shade. Therefore, on one side of the garden doors, we created a generous sized terrace for a dining table that seats up to 6 people as well as a home for their barbecue. It was then a natural choice to place a second seating area on the other side of the doors and this area included a pergola which would offer shade during warm weather.
The Awkward Garden Corner
This garden corner was positioned to the northeast of the house. The internal open plan nature of the house plus window on this side of the barn meant there was a view of this section of garden from inside the property. Previously lacking inspiration and overlooked, we chose to make this spot a feature using a collection of multi-stem specimen trees.
The brilliant white stems of the Betula (birch) contrasted fantastically well with both the existing hedge that framed the space but also the black barn cladding. In grouping the trees (10 were planted), we also addressed the privacy issues. No matter which aspect of the garden the clients were now in, the solid canopy that was created by the close planting of these semi-mature trees, meant the neighbouring houses were obscured from view.
With a simple circular path that allows the clients to wander through the new tree planting, we gave this awkward spot in the garden purpose. To bring an extra level of interest, we chose to mound the terrain in this area and place each multi-stem tree on its own mound. By being surrounding by planting, the mounds really helped to create a sense that you were walking through the garden. Additionally, the mounds meant the base of the trees were higher which added to the trees value as privacy screens.
Woodland Planting
The understory of the Birch planting was heavily woodland focused. This was chosen as plants needed to be able to take partly shaded conditions when the trees were in full leaf.
As the lower level wasn’t prominently visible from inside the property, there was less pressure to include evergreen plants here. Woodland planting is generally spring flowering and we included Aquilegia, Euphorbia, Astrantia, Epimedium, Brunnera, Hellebore, Liriope and Tiarella.
We also included a wonderful Japanese fern called Athyrium niponicum var. pictum. We are huge fans of this fern for its wonderful silver fronds which complement the white trees and silver touches in the Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’. The clients also had some existing Hostas which were transplanted to this woodland space.
By the bedroom and beyond:
To the west of the garden where the ground floor primary bedroom is located, the clients wanted to give the area a purpose. Views from the bedroom and garden look out to the rolling rural hills and beyond and was the perfect place to take in the sunset on a clear summers evening. Here we designed a composite decked area. Many clients are apprehensive when we mention decking but we do not use traditional timber decking which can rot after a few years and will be slippery and dangerous. Now there are several companies who offer composite decking and these often come with a generous guarantee period. Several offer a 20 year guarantee on their composite decking.
This space was nearby the main terrace but with a little distance in between which gave us the perfect opportunity to introduce a new material type. We are always looking to bring subtle interest and usually this is through textural contrast. Again, using our trusted supplier, London Stone, we chose their ‘Chestnut Brushed Composite’ Decking. This is a wonderful decking which oozes warmth and is a great choice for a natural look. Our decking design created a simple pattern by laying the decking boards at 45 degree angles. Again, this brings a subtle layer of interest which helps to break up the visual presence of a larger patio or terrace area.
Being located on the corner of the house, this area felt the full force of the wind even on a relatively calm day so that meant that planting had to be robust in this area. Remember that we also had a level change to negotiate in this area. A set of steps, also constructed from decking, was surrounded by banks of planting. Planting here needed to look good year-round given that the client’s bedroom was nearby (as well as a kitchen window).
To disguise the nearby septic tank and address the sloping lawn which fell away dramatically toward the boundary, we worked with the contractor who created a Ha-Ha. These have origins back to the time of landed gentry who wanted to enjoy their garden and not have to look at their cattle or arable lands nearby. Therefore gardens were created on a higher level with a steep drop (or Ha-ha) on the boundary which effectively hid the unwanted from sight. A low Taxus (yew) hedge to the front of the ha-ha created a safety barrier and provided an extra layer of visibility protection to offered the home owners unspoilt views across to the horizon.
As mentioned above, one of the homeowners was keen on including cooler colours within the planting. Often, we find our female clients are drawn towards this end of the colour spectrum and soft blues, mauves and whites favoured in particular. This colour palette is physically easier for our eyes to absorb with the eye muscles relaxing to take in the colours. This means that we often associate these tones with a calmer look and feel. Green is also considered a relaxing colour and having a green theme is a popular choice for those looking to create a minimal, contemporary look. This colour palette works well with the grey tones we used in the paving. Plants near the house included Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’, Hebe ‘Mrs Winder’, Hakonechloa macra, Pachysandra terminalis and Carex ‘Frosted Curls’. This last plant is a particular staple of ours; it’s evergreen, low maintenance and tolerates a range of conditions. Carex ‘Frosted Curls’ has narrow sword shaped leaves with a subtle central white strip making it a great partner plant for a contemporary garden border. We also included some of the client’s existing Hydrangeas which typically tolerate clay soil well so long as they do not get too dry. This client had irrigation installed which helps to address this. Finally, near the main terrace dining area, we included a mature Phillyrea tree. This looks very similar to an Olive and has a slight grey-green colour to the new foliage. However Phillyrea will grow on the wetter clay soils unlike Olive trees which would struggle in these conditions.
Our clients were delighted with the end result and have left us a wonderful video testimonial which can be seen here:
Overall, our design solution addressed the clients brief by introducing intrigue, bringing more structure through new hard landscaping, bought interest through height via new trees and balanced their different wants by creating planting zones which were softened by structural hedging.
We hope this article has inspired you for your own garden however if you’re looking for our professional design assistance then we’d love to hear from you.
