This beautiful cottage was blessed with stunning views of the rolling hills down the valley.  The client had lived in the property for twenty years and were keen to redevelop the gardens thinking of themselves and grand children, now that their children had flown the nest.

The client had recently extended their Orangery into a large glazed living space, built a covered veranda to the gable end to the property, and planned a new garden pool house, car port and new driveway access.

The design concept was inspired by the craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts movement with the aim to create a beautiful well-considered spaces where creative forms, artistic use of materials with a strong sense of place.  The clients were proud Welsh and so we incorporated local slate tiles for a very special decorative entrance porch and circular rear terrace that was inspired by the forms of traditional Welsh quilts.

We also created cosy human-sized spaces with lush immersive cottage garden themed planting that harmonised with the Orangery indoor/outdoor space, whilst making the best use of the stunning south view and the opportunity provided by various levels in the garden.

This technically complex project involved: a widened and revised driveway, a new boundary dry stone wall with lots of planting to soften the entranceway, a redesigned parking and front garden which includes a car port, store and new front inner garden.

The rear garden adapted the existing landform into 4 usable levels.  The top two levels being mostly hard terraces close to the property including the main Orangery terrace with fabulous views across the valley.   The seating area was part shaded and enclosed by some beautiful roof-form ‘Umbrella’  Liquidambar s. Worplesdon Gum pleached trees.

The Orangery terrace led down a beautiful wide and relaxed set of steps down to the main lawned garden, surrounded by planting, with a lounger terrace half way up a bank to one end linked to the pool house.

The lower level was a more naturalistic space, with a wildflower meadow, immersive seating space, with a pond from a falling stream from the upper level.

Phase one of the build of the Orangery terrace and front driveway is complete in Nov 2024, with phase 2 expected late in 2025.