Modern English garden design for shady Leicestershire village property, UK
Although this mature, shady Leicestershire garden felt very secluded and private, over half of the available garden space was not used as it was deemed ‘difficult’ and the planting was dated and showed no seasonal change. A new modern garden design fusing traditional and contemporary elements was required.
The challenge of this project was to create a very simple design that made use of the ‘problem areas’ and to link these areas together without loosing any of the tranquil maturity of this classic English garden.
To add to the confusion (and because of the way the village had been annexed by the city) the original front of the house was in the back garden and the back of the house was now the front! Our expert garden designer Alice Bowe soon came up with the solution: a modern garden design fusing traditional and contemporary elements.
The front garden was overgrown with evergreen conifers fighting for space. These were removed and revealed an extremely sunkissed area larger than the entirity of most urban gardens. New car parking spaces and stone paths to the house were created, alongside a edible herb garden and drought tolerant gravel garden in colours of blue and cream. The existing stepped front wall was restored with reclaimed bricks and the pillars rebuilt in a more formal country garden style.
In the back garden, an old yew was sacrificed to create another 10 x 15m courtyard surrounded by an old brick wall. This was transformed into a sunny courtyard garden design bursting at the seams with roses, lavender and other cottage garden favourites. The main back garden (the only previously useable area) received minimal intervention. Blue bricks reclaimed from the original garden were incorporated into the new hard landscaping - stone paths edged the large lawn setting off the mature mulberry tree just off centre. The borders were widened and replanted with a colourful planting scheme of cream and green with hydrangeas, scented dwarf lilac and woodland plants. This gentle planting transforms in the autumn into rich autumnal red tones.
To create an instant effect of maturity in this Leics garden design, fully grown yew hedges were installed throughout the project – an expensive but immediate solution!
The landscape design was equipped with subtle lighting which creates a beautiful view out into the garden at night – as well as making the courtyards useable for late night entertaining.
Lead pots were incorporated throughout this modern Leicestershire garden design - as a motif that our garden designers used to link the areas together and reflect the mellow blue grey tones of the original garden bricks which were reused in the design.
This Modern English garden design near Leicester, UK was constructed in Spring 2007 and planted in summer 2007.
These photos were taken by our garden designers only 2 months after planting and yet already show some degree of maturity returning.
Garden Design Size: 1/2 acre
Construction Value: £95K
