Traditional English garden design project of terraced garden rooms complements this large Edwardian townhouse in Sherwood, Nottingham, UK.
This Nottingham townhouse was surrounded by a large garden that was slowly becoming overwhelmed by self-sown trees when I first visited in 2006. The garden sloped dramatically by nearly 5 metres on one side and by 3 on the other, creating a complex topography and was in need of a total redesign. A listed building in a conservation area, this was a challenging garden design that required intelligent solutions. Fortunately, I am the sort of garden designer who relishes a challenge!
The garden had a complex brief and was designed to maximise the use of precious outdoor space in this urban setting, deal with the levels and to improve biodiversity within the garden – whilst remaining sensitive to the period setting. The traditional garden design layout owes much to the traditional English garden design style of Edwardians such as Jekyll and Lutyens with a clean geometric layout of gravel paths and york stone terraces and a backbone of hornbeam hedges. All the stone was locally sourced from Notts and Derbyshire and FSC timber hidden by native hedging was used to create many of the retaining structures.
Pleached hedges and dry stone walls were used to create rooms within the garden, whilst at the same time opening up views and sightlines that make the space feel larger than it really is. This is a favourite optical illusion of garden designers and can be used to great effect within any new landscape design.
With the simple, structural skeleton of the garden in place, the sumptuous tapestries of planting could be added. The client is keen on flower arranging and so that planting has been designed with plants that not only look excellent in the border but also have a long life as cut flowers. Wide borders of painterly planting are framed by the hedges and walls of the garden design – each ‘room’ a subtle variation on the colour scheme of the previous - so a whole palette of plants for cutting are available.
Keen to maintain an organic management scheme in the garden, a hidden composting area was also included – and beneficial birds, butterflies and insects are encouraged with carefully sited bird boxes, feeders and habitats. Tempting natural predators such as ladybirds and lacewings to make a home in your garden improves biodiversity and can cut down on the work required to maintain a garden.
The highest point of this Nottinghamshire garden design is home to the woodland garden which really comes into it’s own in the winter months. From the bench in this informal winter garden, you have a perfect view across the entire scheme. A scented winter walk leads around the garden so that even on a cold day, there is something to tempt you out into the garden.
This traditional garden design was constructed in Nottingham, UK in Autumn 2006 and was planted in Spring 2007
Garden Design Size: 1/2 acre
