Zoned Garden Clayworth

This zoned garden in Clayworth started as a blank canvas. There was plenty of lawn, but no paths linking one part of the garden to the next and very little to draw you outside. The clients wanted a garden they could use all year round, with spaces shaped around how they actually like to spend their time.

We started with flow. A new path now runs from the back gate by the driveway straight into the main garden, past cottage planting and the established wisteria the clients asked us to keep. The lawn was re-levelled, fitted with automated irrigation and left open at the centre.

The house extension had created a change in level, so the dining area was raised to sit level with the lawn, with steps down to a lower terrace beside the house. A large brick wall faced this space, and nothing off the shelf held its own against it. Instead, we made a 1.2 metre stainless steel blade water feature to spec, set at a height where you hear the water without it being too loud. Pleached trees either side form a neat square frame that softens the brickwork.

Along one side, timber arches lined with white rhododendrons lead to a quiet corner. One of the clients’ requests was somewhere to sit with a book in the evening sun, and the egg chairs here look back across the lawn, with bamboo rustling behind. The clients also enjoy gardening, so a timber potting shed sits just off the path from the back gate.

The last part of the garden had never really been used. It’s south facing and catches the first of the sun, so we added a raised patio by the house. It’s now where the clients like to start the day with a coffee.

Take a look at our garden design and landscaping service to find out how we approach projects across Nottinghamshire and beyond.