Garden Design in Essex
This small garden design in Epping was created from an unloved and underused garden with a sloping muddy lawn and narrow borders. The owners, a professional couple with grown up children, wanted a contemporary garden with a Mediterranean feel for entertaining family and friends. The garden leads from a modern kitchen extension where bifold doors and windows create a year round view and seamless connection between the interior and exterior spaces.
The garden was as a blank canvas and the clients brief asked for a generous dining terrace, a seating area, an exterior kitchen unit, no lawn and to incorporate an existing hanging chair where they could enjoy sitting with their granddaughter.
The design uses a rectilinear plan softened by abundant planting. A generous central planting border dissects the garden and balances the hard landscaping. A gravel terrace incorporates planting to give a naturalised feel. On the gravel terrace area a bespoke bench allows additional seating for parties and includes handy storage, constructed using Western Red Cedar to connect with the kitchen unit and slatted trellis fencing that wraps around the garden.
The new garden terrace has a level threshold from the kitchen, porcelain tiles were sourced to connect seamlessly with the interior flooring laid in a herringbone pattern to create the inside/outside feel the clients were hoping for. The dining area is paved in pale grey porcelain and provides a comfortable space for the family to enjoy alfresco dinners under the shade of a bespoke metal pergola. An outdoor kitchen was designed to house a Wolf barbecue and outdoor fridge and includes plenty of storage. The use of warm grey Quartz for the worktop further connects the garden design with the interior.
The planting maximises the south facing aspect with Lavender hedges providing fragrance, Stipa tenuissima for softness and movement and Bay spheres to provide a formal accent and year round interest. Pleached Elaeagnus trees screen the neighbouring properties and Multistem Amelanchiers are used for seasonal interest and to wrap around the hanging chair creating an intimate, cozy feel.
““We are thrilled with our garden and receive such wonderful comments. Cassandra is passionate with her ideas and planning for the perfect result. The various planting choices enables our garden to look great in every season.
Cassandra liaised with the companies who supplied all the furniture, pergola and barbecue area and it all worked well and on time. We received regular updates along the way too.
Cassandra keeps in contact with us throughout the year to ensure our garden looks perfect all year round.
Thankyou!””
Design Ideas
• Use plants to screen the boundaries and muffle the gardens edges to make a small garden feel larger.
• Keep it simple using a limited palette of materials. This garden uses porcelain in small and larger formats and a tonal gravel to add layers of texture to the hard landscaping.
• Use repetition to create a simple, uncluttered feel. By repeating plants through the garden the eye is drawn comfortably through the space.
• Bring the indoor out by taking the interior flooring out into the garden. Make sure the material is suitable for exterior use. Here we had to source a match for the interior herringbone tiles.