A Plant Lover’s Paradise

The client sought a garden design that featured informal, naturalistic planting and a relaxed feel, as well as needing practical elements, including a triple bin store, tool shed and storage for three bikes.

A large existing shed covered the attractive trunks of three birch trees at the end of the garden, and the cherry tree had become too dense and ungainly, needing thinning and shaping.

We placed a generous socialising area close to the house to enhance the flow into the garden through the full-width doors. An informal gravel path weaves through the garden, leading to a more private retreat at the back. We avoided delineating the flower beds, instead allowing the plants to spill naturally into the gravel, with taller plants along the fences gradually giving way to ground cover between stepping stones. The garden design also features a rich mix of plants to reflect our client’s passion for gardening.

For practicality, the combined bike and bin store was positioned near the side gate for easy access and clad in larch with a sedum roof to minimise its visual impact. A small garden tool shed, located in a back corner, will blend into the landscape as the garden matures.

We chose tumbled Egyptian limestone paving for a modern yet timeless look and coordinated the colours of the gravel, paving, and larch cladding to create a cohesive, harmonious garden.