MODERN COTTAGE GARDEN.
WALTHAMSTOW, LONDON
“We’re delighted with our new garden. Lucy’s design was a real strength of the project. She understood the look and feel we wanted and translated it into a garden that feels thoughtful, cohesive and beautifully balanced. The layout has a much stronger sense of structure and flow, with the different areas working naturally together. The proportions, sight lines, materials and planting choices all feel very carefully considered and the garden looks just as good from inside the house as it does when you’re out in it.
Lucy and Yusuf (Bella Landscape Construction Ltd.) worked brilliantly in their respective roles to bring the design and landscaping together and it was clear everyone cared about getting the result right. The garden now feels like a genuine extension of our home and is a space we really enjoy spending time in. The finished result is even better than we had hoped.”
This terraced garden was once dominated by a large lawn, with narrow raised beds containing tired evergreen planting. The brief was to create a more expressive and characterful garden, inspired by the exuberance of an English country garden, while using reliable plants suited to the garden’s conditions.
Three carefully positioned trees were introduced to provide greater privacy as they mature and bring dappled shade to the garden. Hornbeam hedging and ornamental grasses soften the garden room, helping to integrate the structure into its leafy surroundings.
The existing York stone patio was retained, with planting brought right up to its edges to create a softer, more immersive transition between hard landscape and planting. From inside the house and while dining outdoors, the garden becomes a layered, painterly composition of colour, texture and movement.
A gently winding path leads through the planting towards the home office, creating a sense of journey through the garden. Benches are positioned to take advantage of both sun and shade, offering places to pause and enjoy the garden at different times of day.
This was a full service project from ideation to realisation, including managing the build.