When I visited the garden it was a bomb site. A recent extension had been done to the back of the property through this small, narrow, sloping garden. Three existing birches midway up the garden had been saved and undamaged – otherwise nothing.
My client was of a certain age where easy access and maintenance was required. That said she was a plants woman with quite specific needs from the garden. The client was greatly travelled particularly so in China. Therefore she wanted to be able to reflect the Orient in this part of the garden.
The garden is North Facing and therefore greatly in the shade from the property. The very bottom of the garden does get sun for the better part of the day with some shade form the birch trees.
The two flat areas were created, one to the back of the house the other to the bottom of the garden, both were gravelled and edged in blue brick. The winding path was a long slow way of walking up through the sloping site. Stone kerbs formed the risers to the steps with gravelled treads. Rock outcrops retained steeper embankments within the garden.
The client was a very good artist with many artefacts present in the garden made by her. A simble lighting system for access up the path and highlighting artefacts was installed.
The remainder of the garden was then planted up working with the client to create the look that she was after. The completed garden might not be considered an oriental garden in the truest sense of the word. That said for what is a town garden in Cheltenham it is an area that is one of the best I have done as a place of calm and peace.
