This was a neglected garden with a large expanse of sloping lawn and several features that had become overgrown and fallen into disrepair. We were called in by a couple with a specific brief as one of them was terminally ill and they wanted to create a haven that would bring great joy to them in the final months of their shared life together. Many aspects of the garden had to take into account limited mobility.
We designed the space in close collaboration with the customers. As the project progressed we worked closely with them to implement changes in the design as they saw fit. The customer's decision to use New Gardens was primarily due to our flexibility.
In order to cope with the change in the ground level, we used natural limestone walling with central steps to move from one level to the next. The customer wanted to create multiple seating areas to view the garden from different vantage points. To accomplish this, we made a sandstone circle feature at the highest point, steps then led down to a corner seating area beneath a beautiful fanned pergola. From this pergola a path led through a wooden archway to the main patio, curved to its widest point to facilitate a dining area.
The customers wanted to retain some lawn but not too much so as to keep the mowing time to a minimum. The brief also called for privacy screening on one of the boundaries which we achieved through planting evergreen bay hedging.
The sound of running water was desirable to the customers so a small pebble stream fed into a rockpool water feature running alongside the central steps. This was made visible from the conservatory by creating a cut out in the limestone walling. Finally, the planting scheme incorporated a herb garden which could be maintained from waist height, an alpine rockery, multiple trellises to create a wall of colourful climbers and an irrigation system throughout the planted areas to minimise watering.
We chose new gardens for their creative and artistic designs. Nathan immediately made a good impression. He was courteous, knowledgeable, and able to interpret our ideas and vision of transforming our garden from a sloped, unusable mess and create a garden with flat, functional areas that are a joy to look at and be in. C. Johnson
