Brief:

The owners purchased the property a few years ago as a holiday getaway with a view to it becoming a full-time residence in the near future. Works had already been undertaken to renovate the house and the clients wanted to expand those renovations to the outside space. The clients asked me to create an overall vision and master plan for the whole garden that could be implemented in phases over the course of a few years. The clients are very open to a more rugged, climate-conscious and drought-tolerant planting with no irrigation requirements beyond the establishment period.

The plot is bathed in sunshine for the best part of the day and is bounded by well established trees on its south, west and northern boundaries. Unfortunately, the plot is overlooked by a neighbouring school and local social hall. The plot does benefit from having many established trees and shrubs within the garden itself, but these have not been well maintained by the predecessors and many are in poor health and condition.

The clients themselves are not vastly experienced gardeners, but are enthusiastic about learning and developing their skills.

Design:

Walking the garden, taking photos and absorbing the space, two things were clear to me from the outset: one) the garden could be viewed for the most part from the rear terrace without having to step a single foot into the garden and two) the relatively modern block house and adjoining traditional stone dovecote are in juxtaposition with one another and this dynamic should also be reflected in the garden.

The garden takes some aspects of more traditional english structuring ideas and juxtaposes them with modern materials, planting choices and maintenance regimes.

The use of traditional axes, informed by the lines of the house, retain certain views from inside the house and create focal points. To make best use of the whole space 3 separate seating areas have been created to allow the clients to enjoy the garden at different times of day.

To soften the pre-existing swimming pool construction into the landscape it shall be surrounded by a herbaceous perennial and shrub planting inspired by the garrigue areas of the south. Flower colour will be more intense by the house, softer and paler elsewhere in the garden. A hedge set to one side of the swimming pool area planting at approximately 1.5m high separates the garden by the house and pool from the wilder remaining parts and deliberately interrupts a complete view of the garden from the rear terrace, forcing the clients to venture into the garden to explore and enjoy its entirety.

The old dovecote building is used by the clients for a significant proportion of the day and is thus deserving of its own unique view of the garden. A ‘long walk’ out into the garden has been created in brick and corten steel, flanked by 8 oak ‘arch’ways clothed in white climbing roses and surrounded by two beds of white flowered perennials. The softer and more traditional planting in this part of the garden will be defined and separated from the rest of the garden by an ornamental grass ‘hedge’. These grasses en masse will add movement and texture to the garden and represent the transition from the more traditional, gardened, section of the garden to the more laissez-faire, naturalised part.

Use of corten steel edging to define the planting areas vastly reduces lawn edge maintenance and separates cultivated areas from lawn and meadow, making the task of identifying weeds much easier for the inexperienced clients. Corten steel and terracotta coloured brick have been selected due to their durability and to colour match the earthy and terracotta vernacular prevalent in the area. Likewise oak timber has been selected on the same basis for the 8 ‘arch’ways that shall define and enhance the perspective.

A stone’s throw from the property runs the Charente river along the western boundary of the commune. A simplified, stylised and inverted and rotated version of the river’s course is used as the basis for the mown path that intersects the meadow spaces, which are planted with various native and near-native species.

Planting that encompasses the meadow seating and pool areas allows the clients to become immersed in the planting itself, rather than be simply observers from afar. Additional trees and shrubs have been added, and will continue to be added over the course of the project, to blur and block unwanted views beyond the garden and replace those ailing plants that have unfortunately had to be removed. Planting includes a strong use of natives and near-natives, to include Pinus sylvestris (in regular and dwarf forms), Amelanchier ovalis, Cercis siliquastrum, Stipa gigantea, Euphorbia, herbaceous Salvias and many others.