LARGE FAMILY ENTERTAINING GARDEN, Buckinghamshire

A LIFESTYLE GARDEN FOR ALL THE FAMILY

This garden is about enabling a lifestyle: relaxing long summer lunches, lazy afternoons spent by the pool and banquets at dusk. The pared-down aesthetic bridges old and new – traditional materials presented in a timeless, modern way. The L-shaped house creates a natural ‘courtyard’ and this has been utilised for the dining terrace and pool. The terrace is divided into a series of ‘rooms’ by pleached trees, umbrella-pruned trees and clipped hedges, creating a multi-layered structure that frames different vistas in each area. Wide planting beds are set within the terraces to help with screening and provide a lighter footprint. Clipped domes and hedging tie the new area to the existing garden, and the concept is brought up-to-date with the inclusion of ornamental grasses and perennials, giving a semi- transparent, ethereal quality to the scheme.

The garden beyond is mostly laid to lawn, curved planting beds added to create a soft foil to the formal linear structure elsewhere. New Birch trees bolster the ones that exist already, to create naturalistic groupings that reference the natural countryside around. The planting swathes create a visual link between the main garden and the orchard, the rows of young fruit trees now enhanced by swathes of meadow planting. The spoil from the pool dig is used to create ‘landform’ – low banks sown with meadow seed mix – with mown pathways around them. There is a generously proportioned mown clearing at the heart of the orchard, designed to be large enough to accommodate a marquee for parties.