Transforming an irregular shaped garden into a modern space for family entertaining
This month we’ve been busy finishing a contemporary design build close to home in Newbury.
Our Client’s Brief:
To create more room in the garden for family get-togethers, adding interest and and creating new features to make the most of the space. The garden has to be easy to maintain and an area of lawn for the grandchildren is a must (although this needs to be squeezed into a compact space). This all needs to be achieved whilst working around the garden’s irregular angles.
What we did:
We used some clever design tricks and top-notch landscaping to transform this irregularly shaped garden into a fresh and sleek space perfect for family entertaining:
A bespoke timber L-shaped seating area runs along the planting border. It is constructed using treated sleepers and provides plenty of seating for a large family. Set as it is within the planting border, the new seat becomes a focal point especially when viewing the garden from inside the house. Plants will be carefully chosen to enclose and surround the seating area and enhance the overall design. The unusual shape of the border complements the angular lines in the garden.
A new Astro turf lawn behind the main planting bed is a practical option for the play area for the grandchildren, as well as providing an important splash of colour in the garden.
New porcelain paving areas are laid along the back of the house, around the side to the BBQ seating area and along the back of the garden to give a sleek and contemporary feel which is in keeping with the modern design.
The construction of a new sleeper retaining wall at the bottom of the garden has tidied up this area, giving back much needed space into the main garden. This solves the problem of the steep slope which was previously a rockery wall. Behind the retaining wall there is now space for a generous sized planting bed which, when filled with colourful plants, will make a stunning focal point for the whole garden.
The New Planting Plan
Katie has just finished a planting plan for the new borders and we will be supplying the plants within the next couple of weeks. These will provide an injection of colour and structure to the garden and will include: Allium ‘White giant’, Agapanthus ‘Lapis Luzuli’, Geranium sanguineum ‘Max Frei’, topiary lollipops, Heuchera ‘Midnight Rose’… to name a few!
Credits: Landscaping photos by ALDA Landscapes; “Mount Everest Allium” by patrick_standish is licensed under CC BY 2.0; “Agapanthus” by Tim Green aka atoach is licensed under CC BY 2.0; Geranium: “Geranium sanguineum, 2015” by F. D. Richards is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0;