Modern Detached House on a hill in Epsom
Designing for a modern detached house garden on a hill
This is a medium sized garden of a relatively new house on outskirts of Epsom near The Downs. It had good basic structure on different levels, along with some raised beds, but there was also an uninspiring lawn, a huge old holly tree with a wasp nest in the roots, lots of pots and not much planting, although there were a few bits worth keeping.
The only seating area was just outside the house, which was at the lowest level, so didn’t really allow any views of the rest of the garden apart from a brick wall and the tatty lawn and holly tree.
Meeting the client’s brief
One of the Clients had taken part in the round the world yacht race, so had the desire for some nautical aspects to the garden – not the norm in Epsom, but an interesting challenge. They wanted some water in the garden, both moving and still, plus lots more planting and all year interest. Screening from the neighbours one on side was also needed as they were building an extension which needed hiding. Other objectives were to keep some lawn, provide a beach area with seating, other different areas with seating and a path that provide a walk around the garden.
Garden Construction and Design
As I said the basic structure was good. The highest area was fenced off with a metal railing, which wasn’t pretty and not needed now. The only way to get there was across one section of the lawn, which was quite a long way, which only led to a dead end and another area of rubbish lawn. The plan was to remove the railing and install a set of steps with a rope handrail to open it up and provide a path around the garden joining the different areas. This area became the beach alongside a reclaimed brick patio – bricks from a Chinese dockyard apparently – shingle with rocks and driftwood and seaside planting. The raised beds and changes in level allowed a waterfall and stream to be built falling into a pond. A single large paving stone was used as a bridge over the stream providing a link into the woodland area which had a self-binding gravel path, with a large diameter rope used as edging to maintain the nautical theme.
The old holly tree had a TPO on it and as a requirement of removing it we had to replace it with additional trees, which was fine, as then we could choose the trees we wanted. We then built steps at the other end of the woodland walk with a sheltered seating area enclosed by bamboo in planters. There were existing wide steps up on to lawn from the patio outside the back doors which we reduced in width creating beds for planting on either side.
The landscapers thoroughly enjoyed this build as it was something a bit different for them. They don’t often get to do beaches in Epsom! They got quite artistic with the waterfall and pond and the new and old sleepers looked really good once they’d been in for a few weeks, so much so, you couldn’t tell the difference. The reclaimed bricks on the patio look really good against the pebbles of the beach and the self-binding gravel path.
After a bit of persuasion, we got the Client to agree to painting the fences black, which shows up the foliage of the plants wonderfully well.
The Clients are really happy – they spend much less time watering all the pots and more time relaxing with a glass of something chilled. They are so pleased to have nice trees rather than the unsightly holly and they’ve said it’s just opened up the garden and made it a much more useable place and they love the different areas.