This was a fantastic project to be involved with. This house looks over a most spectacular scene at the mouth of the Fowey estuary. We had to design two gardens. One, an enclosed courtyard that would be accessed from the kitchen/dayroom. The other led straight to the beach and needed to be simple enough to avoid distracting from the view. The use of granite setts by the thousand juxtaposed with huge slate flags added lots of drama to the hard landscaping. Coupled with radiating circles on either sides of the lawn and a view to die for the garden has a real sense of wonder.

Treann House is a luxuary bed and breakfast overlooking the Camel estuary in Padstow.  This Edwardian town house had a major refurbishment carried out by the current owners Paul and Emma Caddis creating a wonderful home and business. Both Paul and Emma were keen that the garden should connect strongly with their new kitchen/dayroom and had good ideas about terracing the garden to allow as much light in to the house as possible while also creating an outdoor space that invited you to come and use it.
Unusually, we built the walls with slate in vertical bonds as opposed to horizontal.  This was Paul's idea and although very time consuming to construct the finish look helped lead the eye skyward and up towards the herbaceous planting.
The planting is very lush and large leaved towards the back of the garden, with a willow tunnel running behind the sunken trampoline.
Closer to the house there is a vibrant mix of Solidago, Achillia, Stipa, Anthemis and Geranium 'ann folkard'. 
For more information on Treann House see www.treannhousepadstow.co.uk
 

Little Pinnock is a collection of medievel barns that have recently been renovated to the highest standards and are now used as holiday cottages. Over time we are aiming to create within the 12 acre setting a truly magical environment for guests to enjoy.

Plans include discreet picnic areas within secluded coppices, a pond and seating area near the old pump house, winding paths throughout the woods and scented planting surrounding each cottage.
To find out more about Little Pinnock visit www.foweycottages.com 
 

This garden, which sits on the banks of the River Thames, was created with a veiw to defining three separate spaces.
The dark courtyard was made lighter by using bright silver granite setts which bleed in to a paved limestone seating area.
All the paving was cut to 5 inches wide and laid as if it were a wooden floor. This helped to spread the eye across the garden rather than looking straight down its length and further enhanced the strong horizontal line of the decked passage which separates the space and helps provide privacy.
The stone walls and pond were built from re-claimed york stone paving which was cut by hand to give a textured edge.


This garden in Fowey was designed and built for a family who wanted to access their garden regardless of the weather. They were looking for space for their young children to play in as well as an environment for them to learn about gardening and food production. Plans for a garden office/workspace were already in place so our job was to link the different spaces together and provide an inspiring space that didn't need an army of gardeners to look after it.

The challenge with this project was to create interest throughout the length of the site without reducing the width of the central lawn. Sweeping curves in the garden path and the interplay between the different surfaces ( stone, lawn, water and planting ) helped acheive a real harmonious result.

This house and garden was originally two properties but the present owners converted it into a fantastic family home joined with a conservatory overlooking the garden. 
By merging two gardens the effect had been to foreshorten the garden and create a very wide strip of lawn with planting beyond and decking against the house.

The clients were keen to have a garden that would require some green fingered work but also satisfied their childrens need for space.  The plans were drawn up over many weeks and revised along the way through much consultation.  The result is a beautifully simple garden that is tranquil and harmoneous.

All the stone paving was cut by hand on site to create a stunning expanding circle bisected with a circular path that runs around the perimeter of the lawn.

With a tree house, monkey bars and swing there is plenty of room for play and in the other corner of the garden, under the shade of a Mulberry, we installed a sentry hut for quiet reading and contemplation.


This was a project that not only changed the outside space but changed the living habits of the owners.  The finished project was a seemless opening from indoors to outdoors and a real sense of the garden being part of the interior. This resulted in creating a space that contstantly invites you to be a part of it.

With strong curves and soft planting the garden opens out from a shaded courtyard into a sunny, open terrace with a small lawn and mature planting.



This is a great example of maximising available space.  This garden was one of the smallest in size we have done but the attention to detail and the desire from the clients to really have something special resulted in an exciting and rewarding project.

The front of the house opens straight out onto the River Thames so it's something of a joke that at the back door, to access the garden, people first have to cross a deep pond that runs across the full width of the house. 

Stepping down onto a mat of Camomile into  a fantasticly colourfull paved area,( the same Limestone as was used indoors), you are surrounded with planting on all four sides.  As the beds were only 450mm deep planting was a real challange.  The clients wanted some real show stoppers, hence the Canna 'The President' and the topiaried Ligustrum.  A beutifull Betula Pendula creats a subtle amount of shade throughout the day with  the stone spheres acting as full stops  to encourage contemplation.


This garden was developed for a fantastically, dynamic and fun woman . She ran her own literary agency and managed several bestselling authors. Needless to say her life was both busy and stressful so the garden needed to be a retreat from her professional life, somewhere she could relax, entertain and if need be work without the hassle of the office around her. The house is an inspired design filling in a former second world war bomb site. In a terrace of four storey victorian houses this was drastically different in that the back wall of the three lower floors was all glass with various mezzanines looking down on to the garden space. Because of this it was important that the garden was as impressive when viewed from above as from on the ground. Using a strong geometric design we were able to create different zones without making the garden feel crammed or clutered and full, dense planting softened the edges of the paving beautifully.