Larger gardens
Large gardens, especially rural ones, often have views to the countryside beyond. It's really important to integrate the garden into the landscape.
A family garden in Somerset
A new design for a large garden in Trull, near Taunton, Somerset which has been occasioned by improvements to the house. The design includes a large patio paved in York stone with steps up through terraced beds filled with plants and incorporating a raised pool and fountain. The main garden has a lawn (big enough for a marquee) surrounded by planting in intense colours; deep reds, blues and intense purples. Blocks of yew steady the exuberant planting and a plant-covered pergola gives some shade. Beyond this garden, a less formal woodland garden centres on a rill with a piece of sculpture at its head. My clients particularly like the gardens of the Alhambra and of Hestercombe and the design draws on references from both. This garden was completed in spring 2006 and greatly enjoyed over the summer.It is extraordinary how well established it looks already.
A sloping garden on the edges of Exmoor
My clients have done a considerable amount of work to update what was once two foresters' cottages, building sustainable water and power systems into the refurbishmment. A similarlarly sustainable approach needed to be taken in the design for the improvement to the garden. They asked for a wildlife-friendly garden which would be appropriate and sensitive to the site, an open terrace near the house, a vegetable and soft fruit plot and easy ways around the garden, which is steeply sloping and very rocky. I designed the terrace with planting areas retained by walls faced with stone, much of it from the garden itself, with steps leading up to the level upper lawn, new wild life pond and the kitchen garden. Other paths, dictated by the contours of the land, are closely mown through longer meadow grass to benefit birds and insects. This garden has now been built and was planted up just before Easter 2007.
Before:The way into the main garden was precipitous and there was nowhere inviting to sit
Now. Even unplanted, the sunny terrace beckons and a wide flight of steps invites you to explore the rest of the garden above. The large caged, south-west facing kitchen and soft fruit garden is safe from marauding deer. My clients are delighted and snatch every moment they can in their new garden.
Developments in a very large garden in the Teign valley 
This property has its own stream and is surrounded by woodland and grazed hills. I was asked to help improve the garden, making it both more useable and seem less overwhelming. The first two projects have been to enlarge the terrace at the front of the house, making a larger space for parties and family gatherings and underlining the link between the new poolhouse and the original Victorian house. New planting areas have been made on the island formed by the stream and the narrow canal to soften and blur the edges while remaining sensitive to the landscape beyond. An ornamental garden has been made behind the house in what was the old kitchen garden which is enclosed by a brick wall making it a sun-trap even in winter. The sloping ground has been terraced and generous borders, in keeping with the scale of the garden, have been planted with a miriad of bulbs, perennials and shrubs to give colour, scent and interest throughout the year as well as flowers and foliage for cutting. A contemporary pool and wave-shaped water-wall provide a focal point amidst the exhuberant planting.
