Traditional Garden, Bath
The Brief
The new owners of this beautiful Grade 2 listed Vicarage in Bath wanted to create a garden that was in keeping with the house. An old disused vegetable garden needed to be restored and improved so that it was a pleasing place to visit. Large areas of planting had been left for too long and everything had overgrown or had been badly pruned.
My design
A lot of thinning, pruning and felling were carried out in order to get some order and structure back into the garden, providing a good backdrop for new perennial planting beds in the foreground. The sloping lawns were re-levelled and shaped into circular curving lawns that flowed down into the meadow area. The boundary hedge was lowered considerably in order to borrow the landscape of the trees beyond.
Nearer the house, the main terraces were altered and new seating areas were added near to the kitchen for morning coffee. The main dining terrace was reshaped and new planting beds were incorporated into the terraces in order to break up what would have been a huge expanse of patio area. Steps lead up and across the patio to each distinct and separate area. A common language of materials is used throughout and sits comfortably with the Bath stonework of the house. Box balls re-used and repositioned from the original garden also provide a common language across the terrace and denote pauses and level changes. They also provide important winter and summer structure to the planting beds closest to the house.
Herbaceous perennial borders will add colour to what is otherwise a green backdrop around the lawns.
This garden is currently under construction.