The client approached us looking to reimagine their existing garden, creating a space that felt more connected to the house while supporting family life, nature and entertaining. The brief focused on improving layout, introducing considered planting to encourage pollinators, and creating a garden that could be enjoyed throughout the year to enhance life for bees and hedgehogs.
The Brief
Garden Redesign
Before
My lovely client Sophie wanted a garden to share with the wildlife as well as her family, but the hedgehogs and wildlife were definately higher on the priority list. Sophie’s garden had wet mossy lawn in areas where there wasn’t enough sunlight, luckily in this gorgeous quarry mans cotttage garden predominantly there was enough sunshine for the plants I planned to thrive. The pond was hidden away at the bottom of the garden where it was hardly noticed. There wasn’t a space for her grandson or daughter to spend time together, a serious lack of seating areas and it certainly lacked some colour in the way of planting.
Our approach was shaped by the setting, the architecture of the property, and how the garden would be used day to day. Layout and flow were carefully considered, balancing hard landscaping with planting to soften the space and add seasonal interest. Wildlife and pollinators were very important to my client, so designing for access for the hedgehogs and planting to encourage an array of pollinators was very important.
Planting was designed to work hard, providing structure, texture, and movement, while remaining appropriate for the client’s preferred level of maintenance. This garden was small, but I included a reading bistro space, a movement space with hanging chair, a dipping pond, fire pit space and dining area ensuring the garden could be used all throughout the day and seasonally. Planting included edibles of fruit and flowers for pollinators particularly bees
The Approach
The materials used were a mix of traditional and modern using a feature of corten steel as edging and planters. The fire pit was designed to be closer in the shady part of the garden replacing wet and mossy lawn. The gravel boards were core drilled to have gaps for hedgehogs, the steps had a mini step up for the existing hedghog and a hog house was carefully positioned for the feeding of the hedgehogs.
The pond became a feature in the garden, where seating was placed and a beach like feel was created for ease of access for pond dipping bringing the grandson out into the garden was important being neurodivergent movement and purpose for being outside was intentionally considered. A swinging chair offered movement and regulation, placed close to the water fountain for relaxing water sounds.
The client was very pleased with a garden which encouraged the family to be outside, to pick the fruit, to see the pollinators, butterflies, bees and moths as well as the pond life and hedgehogs. None of this was by accident, everything was carefully considered in a heritage garden that deserved a refresh and much needed purpose. This was a real pleasure to design.
The Outcome
