I am currently working on the design of gardens that wrap around a Grade II listed house in Bath.
It has wonderful far-reaching views but the garden slopes downhill fairly steeply, so an important element of the design is to create a number of terraces that make the space more usable and which also create 'outdoor rooms' that entince exploration. The house is also surrounded by modern development so screening is vital, though I aways prefer to deliver this as integral to the aesthetic of the design rather than an overtly obvious add-on.
I have created a number of levels and rooms with different uses and a different atmosphere to each. To the side of the house is a peaceful, 'secret' garden where space has been angularly dissected to create slowness of movement; spaces to pause and reflect. Boulder water features and multi-stem Cornus chinensis (flowering dogwood) add sculptural elements.
Below this is a dining terrace with partial shading created by five 'roof-form' Liquidambar styracilflua, whose leaves turn vivid oranges and reds in autumn.
Elsewhere in the garden is a woodland area, and a zen garden with flowing water and a sense of total seclusion.
To enhance the historic authenticity of the house, garden lines are kept cleanly contemporary, elegant and unfussy, though use of dry-stone walling in Bath stone will integrate garden with house.