This client provided a great brief!  They were in love with the Italian Amalfi coast, and wished for a garden that encapsulated the mediterranean feel of this beautiful part of the world. They were keen to have the garden full of blooms with no lawn and a small seating area to enjoy the sunshine.

The scheme was a richly planted gravel garden with a central route to the seating area surrounding by lush Mediterranean planting.  A delightful beehive terracotta pot water feature bubbled away as a central feature next to the seating, which also had good views from the house.   From the seating was a gravel path which meandered around the garden.  We included some local sandstone boulders to represent the mountains/cliff scenery of Amalfi and a ‘seam’ of naturalistic stones crossing the garden. We also created a sense of enclosure with a timber structure representing waves, which included a corten decorative screen.

Essential to the project was improving the notorious heavy clay soils of Darras Hall! We rotovated in manure and grit into the soil to improve its drainage.

The planting embraced silver and grey foliaged mediterranean plants, a formal row of Italian cypress trees along the boundary, a row of Junipers along the front of the garden to also bring some enclosure and formal structure.  The scheme also included the required Lemon tree in a large planter, (which can be overwintered in the conservatory).

When we first visited he project after a couple of month after planting it was a joy to see how well the planting thrived with the improved soil and gravel mulch.