A Cobham couple approached me with a view to completely re-working their front and rear gardens, having recently moved in to a substantial newly redeveloped property in which the developer had clearly used most of the budget on the house and run out of funds on the garden, leaving a disappointing landscape that didn’t live up to the premium finish of the house.
Links Green
A high-end multi-level garden in Cobham
The Brief
To redesign front and rear gardens, with a new driveway and planting to the front to show off the house, and a transformed rear garden to create a family space for entertaining in style, with interest on three levels and a route to a planned garden building at the rear.
The Design
I worked with the clients to make the best out of the garden that the property developer had left them with, renewing first the front garden and driveway, and then designing the rear garden, with the project phased into 3 stages. The first was to address the front garden to make a smart new setting to the house, as the existing finish was letting the house down. The steps to the front door, which had been an uncomfortable climb, were rebuilt with a quality natural stone (black basalt) and the driveway re-finished in quality block paviours, whilst the garden was planted for low maintenance and evergreen interest with topiary and new yew hedging.
The rear garden design retained some of the previous structure, but re-worked and then hid the ugly sleeper walls with beautiful Siberian Larch cladding, with integral lighting to lift the whole scheme. Existing poor quality paving and decking was to be replaced with large format (1m x 1m) natural stone paving slabs, and the steps redesigned to be much easier to climb (they had been built with a huge riser and oversize steps which were very uncomfortable to ascend). I also designed a Siberian Larch garden studio and planting for the entire rear garden was redesigned throughout.
The result is a beautiful high-quality family friendly design with far more planting interest and plenty of space for formal and informal entertaining, space to relax in both sun and shade, and a greatly improved layout. Sensitive lighting brings the garden alive in the evening and makes it a far more welcoming space to enjoy for family and friends.
