We were invited to this Contemporary Leicestershire home during the initial stages of its re-construction. Liaising with architects and clients, we were challenged to reimagine the garden to complement the modern design of the building but also to meet the clients brief for a low maintenance garden to the rear of the property.
Due to the modern architecture of the building, with huge glazed windows covering the majority of the rear façade, meant the garden was in full view from every room and had to be at its best all year round. Being an integral part of the living space, the garden was to be used like a room for entertaining, cooking, eating and enjoying. The client wanted guests enter the house at the front door, as the open plan design offered picture perfect views straight through to the garden. Our design team wanted to create a grand statement that also complemented the architecture of the building therefore a contemporary approach was taken to the design of the garden, with formal lawns, layers of verdant clipped forms and structures.
They also required plenty of open space for extensive family and friends who they regularly entertained, with a large lawn to allow space for a marquee to be erected for special occasions.
Due to the sloping site, this formal garden was designed with several different levels to create various rooms for entertaining and relaxing. Stepping out of the house one arrives onto a large paved area, sunken seating and outdoor kitchen with elegant steps leading up to the lawn areas. The paving outside the kitchen offers an expansive space for guests to spill from the kitchen into the garden for late summer evening drinks. The outdoor kitchen and dining area includes g a tandoor oven, BBQ, pizza oven, storage and washing facilities.
The garden design consists of three lawns offering various places to entertain with room for the occasional marquee. The largest upper lawn area is lined with pleached Carpinus underplanted with clipped Buxus hedging framing the views up the garden and creating height, form and textural interest. A mixture of evergreen and deciduous stepped hedging to the boundaries frame the garden providing different shades of green in the summer with hornbeam hedging used to create contrast in the winter months with its golden leaves. The hedging also provides screening to the garden shed, utility arreas for compost and children’s play area at the bottom of the garden.
Water features as a large but simple cascade down one side of the garden into a raised pool seating and planting around to create a calming place to relax. Rendered white washed walls tie in with the finish of the house and create drama.
Views from the house lead through the garden, past the pleached tree line lawn to a central focal point. This white rendered wall creates a perfect back drop to a large Grecian pot or sculpture and reflects the modern exterior of the main house, the green lush hedging and planting accentuating its clean lines.
Highly recommend APT. Superb design service that evolves and gave us everything we requested and more. Matt and the team are great.