West Hill Road
Designer
Stuart Leppard, The Garden Landscapers
Our Role
Garden Designers and Landscape Gardeners
The Brief
The challenging site is fully exposed to the sun and salt winds. Our clients wanted to turn an unusable, sloping yard with struggling lawn into useable areas for entertaining, lounging and exercising. These were to be set within diverse and seasonal planting, resilient enough to flourish despite the aspect and conditions. The garden needed to be low maintenance as the clients spilt their time between London and the coast.
How we met the brief
We chose low maintenance, composite decking as a solution to the problematic slope and poor access. The upper deck provided space for cooking and exercising, while the lower deck would provide a more private dining area, where the views out to sea could be enjoyed. Clipped Lonicera nitida provides structure within the planting to compliment the contemporary layout and is contrasted with warm coloured, flowering perennials. Robust coastal species such as Rosmarinus prostratus and Santolina chamaecyparissus spill over the deck edges to soften the strong lines.
Highlights
Using a slatted screen fence on the western boundary with climbers increased privacy within the garden but gave enough transparency for the sunsets to provide a dappled, atmospheric light across the space in the evenings.
Challenges we overcame
Our only access was through a neighbour’s garden, over a wall meaning we had to design a space that would require very little excavation and movement of materials. The planting scheme we designed provided almost instant impact in its first year, with minimal failure despite the aspect.
Environmental credentials
The Trex decking used is made from a blend of 95% reclaimed wood and recycled plastic film. Its manufacturing process reclaims factory waste and eliminates the use of harmful chemicals.
What the client said
We have a very particular set of complications with our clifftop garden with full sun and often strong sea winds, but felt completely at ease trusting Stuart to propose ideas and implement the best design and layout of the garden. Within a month of completion of planting, the garden was looking great and the space fully useable. We now have a stunning garden to really match the extraordinary setting we are lucky to have. We thoroughly recommend The Garden Landscapers as a team that are responsive, creative and that give the attention to detail that makes all the difference”