
Small city garden
Location:
Site:
Brief:
To create a beautiful and attractive garden in a space that links directly to the house.
Challenges:
Size
Design Response:
Our client came to us with an air of desperation: How on earth to make such a small space, halved in size by recent extension project, anything other than a small standard courtyard?
It was a challenge!
Key to this garden’s success was the client’s choice of doors and glazing. They have proved incredibly important in terms of connecting the inside space with the garden.
When developing the design , we knew this relationship was key. We considered views from all areas of the house, were exacting in our choice of materials and went to great lengths to understand our client’s tastes.
The garden is bright and inviting, enhanced by off white feature fencing, light coloured porcelain paving and a planting palette of lose textured forms.
Privacy from overlooking neighbours was an issue, one that many Londoners experience and we used pleached trees to mitigate this without taking up too much floor space.

The challenge was creating height with encroaching on the limited space.
We created a small seating area in the most sun filled part of the garden, with lines picked up from internal carpentry and included raised beds for additional interest that could also double as a place to perch.
This garden will take some maintaining and this was articulated to our client from the outset.
A garden such as this, that is viewed all year round might usually include more structure and less seasonal planting, as ever we sought to strike a balance but this garden really does come to life in late spring and early summer.
The sense of calm and space this small area gives has even surprised us and it’s connection with the home is it’s key feature.
Lighting and irrigation was an essential part of the design.
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