Manor house - Dorset

The brief for this historic manor house was to re-invigorate the garden of this storied old property that had been mostly turned over to grass. Large areas of shingle near the house led out to wide expanses of blank mown lawn that lacked any planting and served to make the garden feel smaller. An existing tennis court dominated one side of the space and the woodland alongside the stream at the other side was dark with Leyland cypress.

Creating a rectangular lawn with planting beds near the house that was mirrored by wildflower panels opposite re-focus the garden and create a sense of space within the garden boundary. New Cotswold gravel paths with gravel planting provide for year-round circulation and entertainment spaces near the house and are enclosed by generous South facing beds with rescued pink roses and soft planting that is set-off by a combination of large-leafed trees and grasses in chartreuse green. The wildflower panels are divided by meandering paths with clearings from which to enjoy the garden and reduce lawn mowing whilst bringing the countryside and ecological diversity back in.

A staggered row of winter flowering cherries softens the fence of the tennis court from the garden and creates a vista between planted borders. Directing the eye towards a sculpture then bordering the ongoing path through the wildflower meadow.

Clearing the Leylandii brought light back into the woodland and combined with Rhododendron planting, new paths and focal points has created circulation and reasons to explore the wider garden and the stream. While an old buried pond has been excavated to draw the eye out towards the woodland, and boundary hedging to the South has been softened to ‘borrow’ the landscape beyond whilst retaining privacy.