The client wanted to get rid of the lawn and turn this dark shady garden into a plant filled paradise in cotham just off Stokes Croft.

The garden was already set on two different levels. We needed to create a path from the back of the house to the garage office and a main dinning patio which gets the best of the afternoon/ evening light.

Stone walls run the length of the boundaries and the split level is retained by old brick walls. Lots of good plants to be reused and lots to be cleared and thinned in order to let more light in.

The bones of the garden were already characterful and in decent condition. This meant that we could artfully restore and repair the walls where necessary and then simply overlay a design onto the existing features. I love this method, as it involves a lot less destruction during the construction phase.

We were able to reclaim old pennant paving stones from the garden and pair these with a clay paver. The blue-grey tones of the pennant combine well with the pink tones in the clay paver. The subtle material detail uses these traditional materials in a more contemporary way that doesn’t look out of place in this listed Georgian terrace.

The path is slightly tessellated with a gentle meander that leads you through the garden to the larger patio. Enroute, the path opens out slightly to a small area with two chairs which captures the best of the morning light. It’s a great space to catch some early morning rays and listen to the birds whilst sipping a morning coffee or tea.

The Lower patio is all hardstand. The adjoining garage office is built into the hillside so we wanted to limit infiltrating water and reduce damp. This means the planting on the lower patio is kept in pots.

The overall planting theme is naturalistic meets cottage garden. Small clumps of repeating plants, informal evergreen structure, roses and small trees. A young low beach hedge sections the upper and lower garden without dividing.