Tasked with creating a family garden design with enough lawn to play, a sunken seating area for adults to sit out in the evening, an office and outdoor kitchen area – this relatively small garden had a lot to deliver for people little and large. In this sense the garden has a fun and warm element which embraces and celebrates the modern Corten Steel features adjacent to the old stone cottage building. Our construction team built a new traditional dry stone wall near the kitchen area to complement the local stone in the village.
Smart new cedar slatted fencing was erected along most of the lengths and width of the garden with a new stone wall being built along part of the garden boundary to tie in with the beautiful stone of the cottage. Planting beds run alongside the lengths of the fencing with a stepping stone path dotted along one side creating a quirky offset design quite pleasing to the eye.
Immediately to the rear of the cottage, a small patio was laid providing easy access to the garden through the patio doors. Framed by a raised planting bed it created a useful space for outdoor family dining and children’s play. The raised flower beds set the levels for a fresh lawn furnishing the children with another generous space to play within clear view of the house. With children in mind, a set of three , Corten steel water tables create tactile bubbling water fountains whilst also making a clear division between the adult and children zones.
Beyond the fountains is a sunken stone seating area for the adults – with fire pit for those late night soiree’s with old friends, wine and memories of their youth. The seating backs were designed by our team in Corten steeel and built by our partners, local welders, using a water jet cutting technique to cut the words from the ever fabulous Nirvana track “Smells like Teen Spirit”, chosen by the client:
“I’m worse at what I do best And for this gift, I feel blessed Our little group has always been And always will until the end”
Planting envelopes the seating area with a green cocoon of Buxus hedging which, neatly clipped, looks smart and sophisticated. Adjacent to this is a green roofed ‘sedum’ pergola with cooking area below including BBQ oven, handmade pizza oven, built by our team, and even a kitchen sink.
Along the back width of the garden is a bespoke, hand built garden office room built by our trusted carpentry team. This was not an easy design due to the offset angle of the garden but is deceptively spacious inside as a result.
The planting scheme in this garden used buxus hedging for framing the sunken area, with mistures of grasses, rudbekia, geranium and asters for colour and movement.
Designing the garden also included the front of the house with its tiny angled driveway and path to the old cottages front door. Our team designed a simple yet stunning Corten steel awning above the door to shelter from the rain alongside two offset angled planting beds filled with bright coloured flowers to define the path and driveway. We also designed the corten steel house number as the finale to this family friendly garden design.