Striking Contemporary Town Garden

By Ruth Marshall, Director of Buckinghamshire based CGLA Design and Landscaping. This large plot in Beaconsfield featured a new-build house with a classic “developer garden”- a large rectangular lawn with some drab planting in thin beds around the edges.

12 Sep 2023 | 1 min read

The owners vision was to create an inviting more contemporary and colourful garden, to incorporate a new pergola seating area to catch afternoon sun, and a means of screening houses to the rear of the plot which were very prominent on the main view from the large kitchen/breakfast room glazed bifold doors. They also were excited by creating “a bit of a wow” factor.

The design solution was to incorporate a sculptural “frame” that highlights a stand of Betula Jaquemontii behind, with grasses and seasonal bulbs underplanted for movement and colour. A formal lawn with a frame of paving to match the main patio creates a dry line to the pergola area without having paths interrupting the flow of the spaces.

Deep planting beds feature grasses, hydrangea, and sections of clipped hedging, and are arranged in large blocks, clothing the rectangular lawn spaces and creating layering of colourful planting that provides different views and perspectives as the owners move around the garden.

The pergola is a metal framed structure with louvered slats to the top and features drop-down sides, giving protection from the sun and light rain. The scale of the planting settles this structure down into the garden, creating inviting space for summer parties and relaxed entertaining.

The grass and perennial planting is designed to create movement and colour, whilst the clipped shapes and hedging give a sense of order to the space.

The overall effect is calm, featuring a relatively cool colour palette but with pops of oranges and reds at certain times of the year. The evergreens and clipped shapes provide a great structural framework through the year, and bulbs provide additional splashed of colour, particularly in Spring and early summer. The water-table feature creates a child-safe haven, brining a delightful sound and sense of coolness to the main patio seating area.

A specimen Acer sits in a gravel bed on the level of the main terrace, providing a sense of enclosure for the dining area without blocking the longer views of the garden.

The garden is relatively low maintenance and is a haven for wildlife, with bees and butterflies immediately coming into what was previously almost sterile space.