Book, Wine & Nature Garden
Wimbledon, London
The brief for this garden couldn’t have been clearer. My client wanted to turn her rubbish strewn space, long unused since a house renovation had been completed, into a calm sanctuary, where she could relax after a long day’s work with a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other, surrounded by nature.
More practical requests were for a dining area, a small BBQ area, sitting areas in sun and shade , a small lawn for enjoying barefoot, a small herb garden and an area to grow veg for her teenage son.
One of the best things about this brief is that I knew my client would be walking through the garden daily to get to the new garden room at the end, where her exercise equipment would be. A figure of eight plan allows deep planting beds in this narrow garden to provide the feeling of being immersed in nature as she walks past the dining area and around the small, curved, mixed species turf lawn to arrive there.
Near the house, a small curved bench is placed next to a fragrant herb bed to catch the morning sun. At the other end of the garden, the deck outside the garden room provides just the right spot to sit, book and wine in hand, to enjoy the evening sun.
Interrupting the long view down the garden is a circular raised bed for growing veg, built in cedar by Marylebone Landscapes to my design, to match the bespoke bench and the decking.
We retained a mature Acer, and enhanced it with planting around it. Diagonally opposite, a new tree has been placed to balance it out. The planting in a complimentary palette of peaches, pinks and purples is just starting to fill out, and in a few years climbers will have clothed the boundary fences in green, adding to the immersive feel.
The garden was a pit of despair prior, as we had done a kitchen extension, and the garden was used for builders' waste effectively. It was completely and utterly unusable for any purpose, and so it made me miserable as I finally had a house that was calm and sanctuary-like and I wanted to have a garden that was calm and sanctuary-like too.
The process was simple and pleasant, and I felt like we had a partnership when working together. That’s how I think these things should be. The whole thing of - you are a professional who does this and an expert. I am somebody who has to live with this, so together, we should be able to find the right solution.
You helped find the landscapers, who were great – they delivered early! They were super professional, lovely people. That was also a really good experience.
I think for me; it’s completed the house. Before, the garden just made me tense, and now I'm walking through it all the time to exercise at the back, I can read a book, I can have friends out here and hang out. And I can have my pizza oven going and I can barbecue. It's an integral part of living in this house now.'
Beth West
