APT Studios were asked to design the gardens for a new build property in Leicestershire, the house is Georgian-style with locally sourced Ironstone, reclaimed red bricks, and a Welsh slate roof. It was decided that the garden should be broadly traditional in it’s style, with contemporary features and planting that is resilient enough to cope with the heavy, poorly draining soil, that also dries out in the summer months. We divided the garden up into ‘rooms’ centered around key features, such as a croquet lawn, swimming pool and kitchen garden.
The property is bound by a historic mud wall topped with clay pantiles, and the area is known for the ironstone that is quarried there. It was decided that the design should feature materials that reflect this, utilising natural stone for paving alongside hand made clay pavers, and mud walls topped with clay pantiles were bought into the garden to serve as a backdrop to planting.
The client is a fan of garden croquet, so a lawn of 17.5 x 14m (regulation garden croquet size), marked with clay pavers, was put at the heart of the space. The lawn bleeds out into paths and planting beds, and is edged with topiary Yew domes to provide interest as well as year-round structure. A decked swimming pool complete with pool house sits on the west side of the garden, and is edged with planting down one side to give an immersive feel and define the pool as part of the garden, rather than just sitting within it. Directly next to the swimming pool sits a parterre garden, that is centered around an old Walnut tree. The parterre was given a contemporary edge through it’s organic curved shapes, giving it a much more abstract look and feel than is traditional. The parterres are planted with bulbs to provide a burst of spring interest.
A kitchen garden sits away from the house, with raised beds, compost bays and a shed for storage. The kitchen garden is screened off from the main lawn by planting, multi stem trees and mud walls to give some screening to the more utilitarian space, while also incorporating the textural interest from the mud walls.
Down the boundary, there was a planning condition that no trees or shrubs could be planted within 1.5m of the boundary due to the historic mud wall. We decided to plant a biodiversity boosting matrix of grasses, herbaceous perennials and bulbs to really make the most of the mud wall backdrop.
This project is under construction, and due to be completed in 2026.
