Crafted to Perfection: Fresh vision for an ‘L’ shaped London garden with crafted details.

The devil is in the details and its these moments in the design that completely elevate an outdoor space.

Design

We were asked to re-imagine this South West London garden that for many years had been the home of outdoor play equipment, a lawn and what felt like a busy terrace where a level change and small steps met the house. Whilst our clients wanted to keep an open area of lawn, utilising the space and adding interest all year round was an important part of the brief.

Our design involved a considerable amount of excavation to re-imagine the terrace with a deeper lounger seating area and a dedicated all weather dining area beneath a pergola with louvred roof that also accommodates an additional lounge chair area in front of a cosy log burning stove.

The technical design involved engineering a whole new perimeter boundary and adding privacy screening and layered planting with interest throughout the year. In addition to the feature planting our clients commissioned a piece by figurative sculptor Carol Peace. We designed and crafted a limestone plinth set above a layered water feature to add movement and reflection to the focal point area.

Preparation and Build

To carry out the clearance and excavation of this garden we had the luxury of side access, this passage however was not suitable for excavators or wheel barrows so spoil and waste has to be carefully transported in carts before being taken away for recycling. Deliveries of trees and materials were carefully manoeuvred through the tight space to reach their destination.

Complex drainage was laid along with conduits and ducting for electrical supplies and irrigation to ensure that services were hidden yet also had the ability to be upgraded if required in the future. Fences were replaced all around the garden with deep footings and tall trellis to provide privacy and deter fox damage as far as practically possible. Structural retainers were then laid out to form the raised beds, steps and pathways before crafting the water feature and elements including automated all season canopy, bespoke storage unit and feature stepping stones.

Planting

This garden planting design uses evergreen pleached trees on the upper level to provide year round screening, with additional evergreen shrubs and herbs at ground level.