Newsletter 2001 - Garden
Well, this was the year that the garden was redesigned. One of the main features was that the new garden would have no grass. I had come to realise that it is far too impractical for a site with three dogs which has a tendency to become waterlogged. I had had enough of being restricted to walking on the small amount of paving that was around the house for most of the winter months. It was also apparent that the garden could naturally be seen as three discrete sections. At one stage, I had considered doing up the garden in sections, but I felt that if we had to go through the trauma of building work, then it made sense to do the whole job in one go.
The work begins
The process started in March when a couple of companies came to do quotes. I had two options. One gentleman would do exactly what I asked of him, the other option was to employ a designer who could interpet my ideas and produce a design which would benefit from his experience. He also had a company and work force behind him. I decided to take the latter option.
The first thing to be done was to come up with the design. I gave Mike (the designer) the plans that I had been working on for the last three years and he started to interpret them. At each stage during the evolution of the final design, Mike brought us a drawing and we told him what we were happy with and what we were not. It was a far more collaborative process than you see on garden make over programmes.
At some stage during the process, we came up with two additional basic elements of the design, so the basis of the whole garden is
- Three distinct areas
- The use of natural materials
- The use of spirals as a unifying thread throughout the whole of the garden. The idea for these spirals came from Brian's interest in the shape of the shell of a nautilus (the living relative of an ammonite).
The spiral grows
Finally, the work began in September. Thank goodness we had seen the garden make over programmes and so we were ready for the fact that our garden would look like a building site. The majority of the work was completed in five weeks by two men. They worked and worked. They took only very short breaks and always tidied up after themselves. We didn't need a skip or storage space for materials (other than the garage) as the men arrived each day in a lorry with the materials and each evening they removed the day's debris. At the beginning of the project, the weather was kind to us and there was very little rain, however the planting was carried out in a two day deluge.
There is still some work to be completed. The fountain has been commissioned and its arrival is eagerly anticipated. The cabling for the lighting has been installed and we are now waiting for the lights to arrive.
It will obviously be a few years before the planting matures, but I am really looking forward to next year and seeing what the garden looks like over the seasons. It will be wonderful to allow myself to visit garden centres and buy plants. I had to restrict myself this year while I was waiting for the work to be done.
The garden nears completion
By the back door is a functional area. It is the site of Brian's barbecue, my compost bins and, possibly in future, a cold frame. The paving is terracotta and there is a trellis fence to seperate it from the main garden. Through a "moon" window in the trellis, a glimpse of the rest of the garden can be seen, which should produce a desire to explore.
The main garden consists of large beds and resting areas linked by paths. The main feature is a patio in the shape of a nautilus made from slate and cobbles. It is a real work of art which took twenty man days to build. The other feature is a pergola with another spiral, but this and the paths are made from York stone. This garden will have lots of plants and colour and will have a voluptuous, cottagey feel to it.
I love the sound of water, but didn't want the dogs to be able to go "playing" in a pond, so the idea for a raised pond came about. I love the idea of being able to sit on the edge of the pond on a hot summer's day. The feel for this area is formal. The combination of the mostly green planting and the light grey paving should be clean, crisp and relaxing.
One of the main objectives of the design was to help us forget the proximity of the neighboring houses by creating interest within the garden. This has definitely been achieved, I hardly ever find myself looking at them. It is great fun to "walk" the spirals and wonderful to choose one's route around the garden. When I look out from my office window, I can see a whole variety of planting.
Mike is planning to enter the garden in a national competition in 2002 and he is working out which magazines he wants it to appear in. We are continually watching out for any other design based on spirals. We have seen a few with an odd spiral, but as yet have not seen a whole garden based on the idea. We designed this garden for our own pleasure, but it would be nice if it were recognised by others.