The clients - A managing director and his wife and small son

The garden - Five acres in the north east of Essex set in a charming landscape of open farmland and woodland The client already had a very good idea for a design of central part of the garden.

The brief - To plant a garden on a grand scale to compliment the house. To create vistas and lines of sight inviting exploration at ground level with an exciting overview from the balcony of the master bedroom. The swimming pool was to have a garden for informal entertaining for all ages, to be designed in a modern style and all parts of the garden were to link together harmoniously

The design solution -

Main garden
The first thing to be addressed was the rabbit population and the whole site was bordered by a rabbit proof fence. The main garden is a modern interpretation of a grand formal garden using avenues of clipped box and standard bay trees which form a triangle which takes a line from the house to a central pond and fountain. The triangle was planted within the lawn with clipped topiary and swirls of lavender.
To the east side of the avenues, we created a circle with a grass maze and to the west, a circle with a knot garden. To form a screen from the neighbouring gardens to the east, we planted a rhododendron walk with cherry, acer and pine trees. To form a back-drop behind the fountain, we planted a circle of pleached purple beech trees.

Pool bungalow courtyard
We enclosed the courtyard with raised, rendered planters to the east and west sides. To be enclosed with a double wall forming raised beds to the West and East sides. The West side was planted with large bamboo to diffuse the westerly winds. We constructed four circular raised plant beds with a large paved circle in the centre with built in seats and bubble fountains. The beds were planted with architectural plants and grasses.

Customer reference -
“We were delighted both with the design and landscaping of our garden. The entertaining garden by the swimming pool has seen many good parties and is also lovely when it is just the two of us. The main garden looks wonderful from our balcony all the year round. The installation went ahead with no problems and we have asked John and Ross back to undertake further work for us as a result.”