Helford passage
This design was commissioned by a wonderfully creative couple. When they bought the house the garden was a simple lawn surrounded by plant beds. To make matters worse the lawn was 4 meters below the level of the house and the access to it was difficult on good days and dangerous in bad weather.
The condition of the lawn wasn’t good partly due to a woodland that had been planted some time ago at the foot of the garden. This shaded the lawn during most of the day and also blocked what would otherwise have been a magnificent view of the Helford passage.
We set out to rejuvenate the garden by connecting it to the woodland and making the path into the garden integral to the design, filling it with planting to encourage bio diversity and adding in some new points of interest. It’s intended to be vibrant to look at from the terrace and enticing to walk through and explore.
We introduced five new mature multistem Betula pendula which is a beautiful native tree, banks of Osmanthus x burkwoodii and a pleached hedge of hornbeam for winter structure. The upper levels are dominated by large drifts of hot perennials including Echinacea and Verbena and Achillea softening the walls, which create the level change, built from local granite and slate. The lower garden has more of a woodland feel with giant Hostas, grasses, great burnet and Trollius europaeus.
The water feature is made from core-ten steel. We had a frame built for the wisteria and seating area and a red bench which can be illuminated from inside at night.
““Alex is one of those rare individuals who combines a creative mind with the technical and practical skills to make his artistic vision a reality. He listened to our needs and came up with a design which incorporated elements and materials we had not considered; he also sourced bespoke items to make our garden truly unique. It was tricky at times to balance the budget with Alex’s desire for perfection but we got there in the end and he never compromised on the quality of the work he did. He paid great attention to detail and we are thrilled with the outcome.””