Garden Design - Seven Kings, Essex IG3
The Brief
The space is a well-established garden containing some mature planting, which the clients wish to retain in the re-design.
As keen gardeners, the clients would like the emphasis of space to be on planting and would like a selection of exotic specimens to tend to.
There is an existing large summer house, which the clients would like remove.
The area directly outside the back door should remain unchanged in the re-design.
The Solution
This design takes a tropical theme, using mature and verdant exotic planting to create a lush jungle-style environment. Soft landscaping will form the main focus of the space, with the existing lawn reshaped into a tapering curved squiggle running lengthways down the space. Deep beds either side of the lawn will retain some of the existing flora, pruned and reshaped where necessary, to which we will add an array of mature specimens to create a dense rainforest feel. Spiky tropical shrubs and architectural big-leaved specimens will create variety and interest form and texture, while a selection of flowering plants will enliven the space with a variety of 'hot' colours, such as reds, oranges and yellows.
A curved, sunken rill lined with slate paddlestones will snake down the garden across the lawn. Fed at one end by a slate built waterfall pond, water flows down the rill to a slate trough at the opposite end, creating a gentle meandering feature that serves to guide one through the space. Running roughly parallel to the rill, a curved path constructed from log cross-sections of varying sizes, sunk into the ground within a sea of pea shingle, will provide an attractive and unusual medium for one's journey down the garden.
The pathway will terminate at an African inspired garden structure in the bottom right corner of the space. Bespoke manufactured by hand to exacting standards by Breeze House, the 'Safari House' is designed specifically with alfresco dining in mind. The designer has tastefully created a spacious building that can accommodate a large 152cm table and circular bench seating, utilising the interior space to maximum effect. The building is crafted using only high quality timber from managed forests and thatch tiles treated with fire retardant, fungicide and preservative, to create a durable, weatherproof structure suitable for a variety of uses day or night throughout the seasons.
Extensive low voltage lighting will complete the space, making it suitable for nocturnal entertaining. 50 x low voltage spotlights, placed to highlight choice specimens within the beds, will give the garden a gentle overall glow, while the addition of 50 x LED microlights within the structure of the path will serve to illuminate one's journey down the space. Finally, the water feature will be lit with two 240v submersible spotlights, one within each the end pools, to throw a relaxing, undulating light across the beds when the pumps are switched on.