GARDEN DESIGNER

Natural Dimensions

CLAY PAVERS

Ancienne Belgique Copper Brown

The design re-models the grounds and gardens around an Edwardian house. To the side of the main house, an outhouse has been built which looks like a double garage from the front but is actually a large entertainment room with a mezzanine floor and storage at the front accessed from the side and through the garage doors. The entertainment room at the rear of the building spills on to a new patio space and onto the main upper rear lawn.

The client wanted the frontage gateway to be more visible from along the road and for an upgraded driveway to lead to the house. The steel gate pillars were difficult to see from the road and we strengthened the entrance with larger scale red sandstone pillars at the gateway from which we hung the original refurbished gates. The stone pillars incorporate downlighters so they could be seen from along the road during winter.

The frontage design is intended as a shared approach to the house for pedestrians and vehicles. One of the key concepts was to slowly bring the eye from the centre of the gateway to the front porchway and to integrate the offset porch into the design. The arrival at the front door would be a gradual experience through the garden and through increasingly large rectangular paved features which start in the centre of the driveway and emphasize the arrival and threshold of the front porch. The largest rectangle also acts as a threshold to the gateway into the rear with its centre pointing in line with the centre point of the large bespoke Iroko gates into the back garden as well as being on the diagonal into the front porch.

The cropped granite sets were incorporated on repeated lines across the driveway to provide rhythm, structural resilience, to widen the sense of space across the frontage and provide textural contrast. The setts denote parking areas and mark the boundary location within the boundary stone walls for the original stone gate pillars which are re used to mount lighting and electric car charging points. They also define the small access points into the front lawn through the box hedge and align with the frontage planting bed edges.

The Ancienne Belgique Copper Brown mix’s colours beautifully blend into and compliment the various brick colours, types and styles of the house which has had various extensions using different bricks during its life. The clay paver mix also adapts well with the design allowing for certain colours of the mix to be picked out in emphasis and in spatial transitions as well as being structurally resilient. The paver mix allows the use of the Bordeaux as feature squares to stand out but also be subtle and maintain textural and visual cohesion with the house and the rest of the paving. I also like the noise of the bricks when being driven over. It gives a very continental feel to the arrival!

All drainage is kept on site. The side slope of the bricks takes water into gravel covered side channels which incorporate land drains which connect into a drainage system which runs into a large soak away under the front lawn. Land drains area also placed under the front lawn and the larger gravel parking areas.

The Copper Brown mix also matches with other materials being used, including the timber pergola, the reclaimed stone walls and paving, the porcelain paving, the granite setts and the brick of the outbuilding. The large hardwood gate and pergola is a backdrop to the frontage and matches the arcs and detailing of the porchway. The large double gate is a threshold to a variety of social spaces to the rear. The transition to the rear is emphasized by transition from the Copper Brown mix into the use of just the camel brick, which is again a subtle transition using an element of the Copper Brown mix which retains visual cohesion. Passing through the gate, the camel bricks pave a seating area underneath the large 4.5m span pergola which is part of a path which leads to the grey porcelain tiled patio at the rear of the new outbuilding.

Ecological touch
The flora is greatly diversified due to the design. There are approximately 235m2 of new planting beds containing 15 species of grasses, 48 herbaceous species, 24 species of shrubs and nine new trees. 70m of new yew and box hedging was planted and we also planted 200 bulbs. The planting design offers waves of colour, texture and interest throughout the year. Beginning in spring, the tulip and daffodil bulbs and the Amelanchier, blossoming at the front and rear , introduce the season and lead into the allium display. Large swathes of Sesleria autumnalis provide an ethereal matrix for the bulbs and the euphorbias. Early summer sees the emergence of early flowering perennials such as Geranium, Alchemilla, Geum and Brunnera, other grasses such as Stipa, Deschampsia, Pennisetum, Calamagrostis, and Miscanthus and the Wisteria flowers on the pergola. Lavender starts to flower from early to mid-summer with Achillea and then the main border plants along the upper lawn border start to emerge from the stipa and Sesleria matrix with Aster, Helianthus, Helenium and Hydrangeas. The structure of all the planting is designed, with a nod to the great Piet Oudolf, to give lasting structure through Winter before many of the perennials and grasses are cut back at the end of February.

In the pergola area, a distinct mix which enjoys partial shade has been planted. Plants include Japanese forest grasses, ferns, Astrantia, and a large Dicksonia tree fen. This area around the yew trees presented a particular problem. We wanted planting around the stone walls and the pergola but were constrained by the requirements of the Yew trees. We created false beds on each side of Yews at the point at which the yew tree roots went down into the ground as a result of previous site structures. A hidden timber structure creates partitions a large perimeter at the base of the yews. This allowed planting beds to appear as though they were under the yew trees but they are actually divided from the base area of the yew tree by a hidden timber frame and timber soil retention. This has allowed planting to be established along the stone wall around the Yews and under the pergola.

Several specimen trees are planted throughout the scheme. A large birch and multi stem Acer Griseum flank the new entrance backdropped by the new yew hedge along the boundary. Two Amelanchier specimens sit within box hedges and are underplanted with Astrantia and alliums. To the rear a third Amelanchier sits in the far bed and multi stem Osmanthus define the rear upper patio space.

As one walks down to the lower patio ferns are planted into a gravel strip against a remodeled dry stone wall and this leads to lavender and box ball within gravel at the edge of the patio. Around the lawn, ground cover such as Lavender, thymus Pink Chintz and armeria maritima nestle into the wall. A multi stem Pinus Watereri provides a focal point to views across the lower lawn adjacent to t a garden follie seating area and is underplanted with geraniums, lavender, and euphorbia.
The existing hedges have been planted into to create additional robustness and diversity.