Country Garden Design
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Our client’s striking country garden design in Hertfordshire, is near a railway and is otherwise surrounded by farmland. Their property had been a breakers yard and was now the site of their new build house with slate patio. So, when we started the design work, the rest of the site was a completely blank canvass….
The Client Brief
Our client briefed us to create a contemporary country garden design for the whole family to enjoy, including the dog. We were asked to incorporate a water feature and intimate patio areas, surrounded by generous, contemporary flower beds and borders. Also, the client wanted soft, naturalistic planting to encourage wildlife.
Prairie Style Country Garden Design
We decided to use bold generous curves, to create a journey through the space and break up the existing rectangle. To further add interest to the rectilinear view and slow the visual journey through the garden, we placed Betula utilis var. jacquemontii along the route, within the planting beds. We also used a curved hedge of Prunus lusitania to accentuate the form at the back of the borders. To tie in with the countryside views beyond, and create the naturalistic, ‘prairie style’ the client wanted, we included a high proportion of perennials and grasses in the planting palette. To provide interest throughout the winter, we chose evergreen plants and grasses and perennials with lasting seed-heads.
The Hard Landscaping
We used Vande Moortel Clay Pavers in SeptimA Graphite for colour continuity with the existing slate patio, creating wide, contemporary, interconnecting paths along a central axis of the garden. We designed the paving to be laid in a running bond and grouted them with Basalt EASYJoint jointing compound. To tie the hard landscaping together, we also used clay pavers elsewhere in the design; to edge the curvaceous gravel path and the wild-life pond. We chose these clay pavers to make a visual link between the architecture of the house and the patio.
