Pelorus – A Bespoke Contemporary Coastal Garden for All Seasons

The design gives privacy to the rear garden, minimising being overlooked by neighbouring properties. 

To maximise the garden use through the year, space for entertaining are integrated into multiple locations around the garden to make the most of the sun at different times of day, with a BBQ/outdoor pizza oven located outside a sleek garden pavilion with over-flying roof to providing shelter/shade and extend the usable season of the garden.

There is a small lawn area balanced with further spaces of hard and softscape across different levels, taking a circuitous route around the garden, to provide a visual journey through the space whilst seamlessly linking the house to the garden and pavilion. The location of the site being situated near the coast results in high winds, light levels and salt. Planting follows the ethos of  ‘Right Plant - Right Place’ and overcomes these challenges, providing year round interest, structure and form in a colour palette reflecting the interior of the property, thus giving a feeling of increased space and continuity between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Looking out from the kitchen across the garden to the bespoke pavilion. Pleached Acer campestre 'Elstryk’ provide privacy and exhibit good salt tolerance, contrasting well against the oiled cedar screen. A feature Olive tree provides a centrepiece to mixed planting of herbaceous perennials, shrubs and herbs.

Looking down the pergola bed planting. A range of shade-loving perennials and grasses give a long season of interest and enhance the white stems of the split birch trees. Grasses include Hakonochloa macra ‘Viridiostratus’, Stipa arundinacea, and Phormium and perennials include Vinca, Viola, Brunnera, Hosta and Anemone.

Looking from the lounge – granite paving to the fore is softened by rich plantings of shrubs, perennials and grasses. Strong lines and punctuation of the space is provided by the clipped Taxus baccata (Yew) spheres and hedge to the front of the solid oak pergola. Beyond, multistem Betula utilis ‘Jaquemontii’ provide shelter for a range of shade-loving perennial and ferns that give a sense of depth to the scene.

Plant list