Birchwood House

The clients were a recently-married couple who had purchased a purpose-built property in a small Cotswold village, with a garden that presented a blank canvas. They wanted a simple cottage-garden style without being over-fussy or precious, with a greater degree of privacy from the neighbours. The brief for the new garden included a paved terrace for dining and entertaining, a small lawn, and a kitchen garden in which to grow herbs and vegetables.

The design incorporates all of these components, borrows the views from the woodland beyond, and softens the elevation of the house with a rose and clematis-covered oak pergola. The gravel path takes you past the woodland planting, with birch trees, geraniums, ferns and sweet woodruff, around the exuberant perennial planting of the central bed, and back to the lawned area. The ‘secret’ garden behind the beech hedge offers a private, calm and contemplative retreat.