In the city of Cambridge, a stones throw from Addenbrookes hospital a detached family house with a medium to large garden was in need of a redesign.
The brief was to enlarge the patio to give enough area for a large extending table to seat 8 to 10 people. To include some attractive wood in the design, to provide some intimate areas for relaxation nestled in amongst a cottage style planting plan. Also it was suggested to hide the rather large shed which dominated the view at the bottom of the garden.
The existing patio was redesigned echoing the architecture of the rear of the house and increased in size by approximately 50% with matching Modak sandstone. This included an elegant wide step where it met the lawn with a level change. Red engineering bricks were used to add a detailed edge to the patio matching the house brickwork.
The planting beds were enlarged and eventually filled with a cottage style scheme addition to reusing the retained plants that were placed in a holding bed during the build. An evergreen low hedge helped to delineate the patio edge. There was plenty of height in the planting in the form of Solidago, Verbena, Rudbeckia and tall grasses. This provided screening on both sides of a ‘secret’ path that ran on the right hans side from the patio to almost the whole length of the garden with a bench forming a stop off along the way.
The lawn was remodelled and included a small patio area in front of the shed at the far end of the garden for barbecues. The shed was now screened off with a Western Red Cedar horizontal lathe fence. This treatment was also given to a waist high evergreen hedge at the end of the garden to add interest and lighten the otherwise dark view.
Brick built planters were installed on the main patio adjacent to the house with the cedar lathes used again, this time acting as a trellis for climbing plants to scramble up.
Finally a bespoke gate was added to the side access and a six foot high screen was installed on the boundary to provide privacy form the neighbour property, again these were made from the cedar lathes.
The Green Lounge 