I spend my life designing gardens for my clients but always design my own too. It’s something I love to do & learn from as an added bonus. I’ve had quite a selection over the years; a shoebox with my first little house, a large & casual Cotswold garden, a contemporary courtyard in Henley on Thames, a large & very formal garden to suit my fairly large Victorian house in Berkshire that we sold recently & now this. See blog posts regarding both of these last two gardens. Now I have redesigned what was a pretty confused garden that is currently attached to our new rather lovely Cotswold stone barn here in Oxfordshire. Here it is last Summer when we first visited & this morning.
- Main barn
- The entrance
- Inside the garage (my studio to be)
- The garage & boundary wall
We moved in just before Christmas in the snow which actually wasn’t much fun but I set about drawing as soon as I could. The barn was converted twenty years ago & needs updating, but the garden – what a mess! There were trees & hedges dotted willy nilly & the space itself seemed really small & disorganised. The current driveway & garage ensure cars are parked directly in front of the large living room windows creating a not too attractive view. I thought this was madness so have redesigned the plot into three main areas – a private & attractive courtyard garden with pools & boardwalk (no vehicles allowed), the drive with oak framed garage & a simple lawned garden with specimen trees. See below.
I’ve also added a couple of extensions. The original garage will become a lovely new studio for me with large full height windows, this will connect to the house with a 14 metre long x 3.5 metre wide gallery space with exposed oak framed roof joists. There will also be a boot room & larder that connects to the kitchen.
By creating a semi enclosed courtyard we will gain further privacy from the village & the driveway. There will be estate railing to ensure our dog is always safe should someone open the main gates & drive in. The multistemmed Amelanchier trees will create structure within the courtyard, evening interest when uplit & provide dappled shade for this south facing aspect. The pleached trees & evergreen copse beyond will ensure further screening & sound reduction of road noise beyond. Work started today so we’re really excited!
- Lots of trees have gone
- Clearance & chipping
- Our puppy Bruno helping
This is just the start of exciting things to come. We now have big bright space compared to a dark & frankly daft series of hedges & small spaces. Watch this space for further news – I intend to follow it all the way through so you can see that I am on the receiving end as well as designing & creating gardens for others – my husband & I are living it too!
Meanwhile I’m back sat my drawing board working on a project in Winchcombe – I haven’t forgotten you Norman & Zoe!
Update – June 29th 2018 – Main barn nearly completely refurbished & work has started on the extension leading to my new studio- hooray!