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Garden Design
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Devon Country Garden  A new house had been built within an old orchard on the edge of a village in the rolling red hills of Mid Devon. Half of the acre plot was to remain as orchard while the remaining half was to be made into a garden. Excavation to create a level platform for the building had left a near vertical face up to three metres high at the back of the house, beyond the new patio, creating a formidable barrier between house and garden. Elsewhere the ground was compacted and scarred by builders machinery.
The steep bank was made into a series of three terraces retained by curving walls. These were finished in a roughcast pinkish render to match the house and to blend with the characteristic red soil of this part of Devon. The terraces sweep around the corner of the house in generous curves echoing the undulations of surrounding farmland. A gravel path rises gently from the kitchen door and leads around the terraces, up through banks of planting to the main garden, terminating with a seat beneath a sturdy timber arbour smothered in rambling roses and honeysuckle. Planting includes a great variety of spring and summer flowering shrubs underplanted with herbaceous perennials and bulbs. After a slow start, vegetation has now filled out and draped itself over the terraces, softening and all but concealing the walls. The sinuous curves of planting beds, paths and lawn not only help the garden to sit comfortably in its surroundings but also mean that the grass can be cut without interruption on a ride-on mower. |
