Newnham Formal Garden

Our clients engaged us to create a sturctured and low maintenance garden that was elegant and harmonious, to match their recently extended house.

With no young kids in the house, and no desire for a lawn, the design brief was fairly open, although the clients wanted to include a fire bowl for summer evenings.

Structured around four slightly raised flower beds and the spaces in between them, the garden retains an open and relaxed feel to it, despite the more formal layout.

The beds are made with oak sleepers which we limed to “knock back” the colour a bit and give a softer look. We matched them with sleepers set at ground level to further accentuate the series of squares that the garden is divided into.

The striking black Shou Sugi Ban (charred larch) cladding on the studio made a perfect backfrop for a statement piece in the form of a Japanese acer, its delicate leaf shape perfectly highlighted by the blackened timber.

We used a self binding gravel from Breedon on the ground, proving a low maintenace and cost effective alternative to paving or lawn.

Free flowing planting softens the more formalised structure of the design, and is accented with sparingly used rockery stones.