Timberstone boardwalk
Garden retreat
Sedum with sandstone paddlestones
Succulents planted in a butler sink
Coastal garden
Italian cupressus
Echeveria ‘Duchess of Nuremberg’
St Neots one year after installation
Armeria maritima
Armeria maritima with paddlestones and pebbles.
Garden 2 yrs after installation
Dierama pulcherrimum ‘Blackbird’
Pinus mugo mughus with Stipa gigantea
St Neots coastal feel garden design
Clients’ brief:
Project budget: Approximately £50,000 +
A coastal feel garden design was inspired by my clients’ friends whose garden I had recently designed. My clients wanted low maintenance gardening. So the planting design uses lots of evergreen plants and the sunny corner of the garden was designed to have a swing seat within a circular garden sanctuary. Top of the wish list was for a coastal feel design using timber uprights to represent sea groynes along the Norfolk coastline, a place my clients loved.
My clients are very connected to their outdoor space. it was important that I put together a design that celebrated their love of form; by taking design references from their home, as well using coastal feel influences inspired by visits to the Norfolk coastline. The design needed to be a place of sanctuary, a place to play and a retreat.
A sunny corner of the garden was identified as being the best place to sit and contempletate the garden. We installed a circular sandstone paving kit, flanked with oak timber, partially hidden by tall slender Italian evergreen (Cupressus sempervirens pyramidalis) also known as ‘Pencils’ to create partial seclusion.
The design celebrates long flowing curves on the ground which represent the shape of the Norfolk coastline. The curve also helps to soften this split-level garden. Behind the gravel garden a small evergreen woodland border, framed with pines with two fallen tree trunks to symbolise my clients’ connection to each other and their love of nature.