Happy New Year all! first day back in my studio today so I’m having a bit of a catch up. It’s a beautiful sunny day today so I took these pics (which aren’t great!) but it does look very harmonious with the hakonechloa grasses, Cotswold stone walls & the leather inside my studio…
Just before the Christmas break I was working on the garden design of a Manor house – I currently have two Manor houses in my queue! This is the first one in Northamptonshire & here are a few of my garden design drawings. The drawing below is of the historic walled garden which is enormous & that leads down to a lower ‘inner courtyard’. I have placed a large pool in the upper walled garden & a ‘mini me’ in the smaller lower courtyard.
They will read together when looking out from the soon to be extended house & look spectacular! I’ve used this stone pool surround before at Pip’s Place (below) which looks fantastic in a classically styled courtyard I designed for this Georgian house.
I’m really looking forward to seeing this one built & the before & after shots will be amazing as the architect is making a huge impact to the rear aspect which is quite exciting… here’s one of my sketches
& here is a sketch of the corresponding upper courtyard…
If you look beneath the pleached hedge you will see I’ve sketched a person so you get an idea of the scale of this wonderful walled garden. It will be spectacular so I’m quite excited for the near future! Pleached hedges are a great way of dividing a space, creating drama & of course adding height. I specify them all the time as they are so timelessly elegant in a garden. Here in The Walled Garden (see below) I designed near Henley on Thames I’ve used it to visually define & separate the kitchen garden & its raised beds from the more formal topiary garden.
This Manor house is a listed building so I’ve kept everything away from the historic walls. This maintains their presence & should hopefully ensure there is no issue with planning. The style is very much a classical parterre style as expected historically but instead of a greenhouse or potting shed I’ve proposed an open sided oak framed building to keep you dry or in shade as needed. If you look below you can see the roof will have reclaimed tiles to blend in to the surroundings & the lovely walls can be seen through it .
As it is such a huge space & has historic significance I’ve added mature topiary pieces as punctuation marks. These will give a sense of history & scale. By placing them behind benches they will also provide a feeling of comfort. Without them the benches would feel somewhat lonely!
Osmanthus edging – which is far safer than buxus (box) & is easy to maintain surrounds the parterre shapes & these will be filled with massed Mediterranean planting such as Lavandula, Perovskia blue spire or little spire, verbena bonariensis, salvia varieties & perhaps some acanthus. These will form a riot of purple throughout the summer. Similar to a few we did earlier…
Large formal garden in Oxfordshire by Jo Alderson Design
Hopefully this gives you an idea of my thinking when designing gardens but if you want to ask me anything please do – just click the green contact button on the right.
There’s quite a lot more to it but I’ll save that for later as I need to get back to work! However Watch this space for more!
Until next time
