the before…
I’m really please to share photos of this garden transformation in St Margarets at Cliffe in Kent. This property used to be the retained fire station and had been transformed into an amazing stylish home. The problem with the property? The garden – if you could call it that..
What was part of the old car park wrapped around the property, the only green being the laurel hedge very tired astroturf. No soil anywhere? The garden felt very small and the homeowners were sitting in the area just outside their french doors.
I spent time with the clients to refine their brief. They wanted an entertaining area, a shaded seating area, a pond and access for the daughter to enjoy the garden in her wheelchair.
As this garden was mainly tarmac and concrete the design needed to provide some clever solutions to allow planting and create a natural – less car park feel.
The only view point of the garden from the main part of the house was through the side french doors. Triangular planter and pond were designed in to provide views of planting from the house while retaining access through a new composite deck.
the Solution
The fences and posts were all painted black to harmonise the boundaries and create a background for the plants. We initially meant to keep the trees but on discovering they were living in a tiny hole of tarmac it became evident they weren’t in the best health.
The design incorporated a pergola covered deck as the main entertaining area. This was placed on the corner to give views both ways down the garden, making it feel bigger and connecting both areas. Planting at ground level was introduced along with raised planters to get a better balance of soft and hard landscaping. A curved paver links the areas of the garden and creates a journey through.
During the process of dig out (which was significantly more concrete than anticipated) the guttering and drainage around the building was found to not be connected and the existing hard standing was too high against the DPC. The garden construction has fixed issues with the house.
The garden has been planted in the newly brought in soil which will suit the plants. The planting style is drought resistant and a mix of grasses and perennials that will blow in the wind. Height was brought in with two structural shrubs/ trees a Heptacodium Miconioidies and an Arbutus Unedo.
Client Review: “We moved into a converted Fire Station a year ago. Our ‘garden’ was the old parade ground and car park. Essentially it was a concrete and tarmac space with a small laurel hedge, artificial lawn and a distinct absence of any wildlife. We didn’t know where to begin in creating the type of garden we wanted so we reached out to Catriona for inspiration and guidance. From our first meeting Catriona was amazing. She spent time with us to understand what we wanted from our outdoor space, our likes and dislikes and design preferences. The design Catriona produced was something that we could never have envisaged ourselves. Curved planting beds and pathway draw you into and through the garden and varied hard landscaping materials such as corten steel, limestone and brick pavers blend seamlessly with planted beds and the pond. There are several seating areas all of which give a feeling of being in the heart of the garden and they are designed to catch the sun at different times of the day. Catriona guided us through the whole process from design and project management through to the choice of plants and planting layout. Our garden is now a place where we love to be and we can highly recommend Catriona for your garden design project.“
Landscaping https://www.hythegardenlandscapes.co.uk/
Limestone Paving https://www.londonstone.co.uk/
Plants https://www.palmstead.co.uk/ https://www.howardnurseries.co.uk/