Description: The plot was a medium sized garden with a southwest aspect to a 1930’s family house. The clients were a working couple with two teenage children. The garden suffered from noise pollution due to its close proximity to the busy A2. There was a large height difference from kitchen door to the garden. The boundary was made up of different materials. Dominating the rear of the garden was a concrete base housing 3 sheds with no link from the house to the rear of the garden. The overall impact made the garden untidy, cluttered, noisy and small, and was not inviting.
Brief: To design an inviting low maintenance family garden, that incorporates areas for relaxing, entertaining/dining, trampoline, storage, lighting and an irrigation system, addressing the problem of noise pollution from the A2.
Solution: Decking was used to give ease of access, and to allow the clients to enter the garden from the kitchen. This led down onto an Indian sandstone patio, large enough to accommodate the client’s exterior dining table, chairs and BBQ. Two circular lawn areas - in decreasing size - were established, the larger one to accommodate the trampoline. A decked pathway was built to partition a large flowerbed from the lawn area and link the house to the new seating area at the rear of the garden, which covered the existing concrete base. Two of the unused sheds were removed, and the one remaining was turned 90° to maximise the space. To disguise the shed from house, trellis was attached and climbers planted. Two water features – one at the rear of the garden and one at the front of the garden by the patio – were used as a gentle distraction from the noise of the A2 and to create a sense of peace and relaxation for the clients. Bark roll screening was used to disguise the various materials of the boundary perimeter, unifying the space and creating the allusion of a much larger, wider garden. Low maintenance planting with all year interest was used, offering low screening from patio to lawn, and taller visual screening from the upper decking to the rear seating area with visual and sensory displays softening the edges of the patio and decked pathway.
Brief: To design an inviting low maintenance family garden, that incorporates areas for relaxing, entertaining/dining, trampoline, storage, lighting and an irrigation system, addressing the problem of noise pollution from the A2.
Solution: Decking was used to give ease of access, and to allow the clients to enter the garden from the kitchen. This led down onto an Indian sandstone patio, large enough to accommodate the client’s exterior dining table, chairs and BBQ. Two circular lawn areas - in decreasing size - were established, the larger one to accommodate the trampoline. A decked pathway was built to partition a large flowerbed from the lawn area and link the house to the new seating area at the rear of the garden, which covered the existing concrete base. Two of the unused sheds were removed, and the one remaining was turned 90° to maximise the space. To disguise the shed from house, trellis was attached and climbers planted. Two water features – one at the rear of the garden and one at the front of the garden by the patio – were used as a gentle distraction from the noise of the A2 and to create a sense of peace and relaxation for the clients. Bark roll screening was used to disguise the various materials of the boundary perimeter, unifying the space and creating the allusion of a much larger, wider garden. Low maintenance planting with all year interest was used, offering low screening from patio to lawn, and taller visual screening from the upper decking to the rear seating area with visual and sensory displays softening the edges of the patio and decked pathway.
