3-Tier Garden

The site for the 3-tier garden at the rear of a family home was extremely sloped, there was not even a level area outside the back door suitable for seating; the rise started immediately.   In response to the client’s needs, Martin created a very practical garden, a place to sit, eat and socialise. The patio area outside the sliding doors connects directly to the family’s kitchen dining area, being on the same level to facilitate movement between the two, and is finished with light-coloured limestone slabs.  The area is warm and sunny, and Martin designed built-in seating benches, including a corner bench, which is ideal for a table and both practical and inviting.  The raised planting bed is edged in a low-growing ground-cover rosemary to the front, through which grow seasonal bulbs and plants for colour, the backdrop being a box hedge.  Martin likes to grow herbs close to the house for culinary use as well as scent and colour. The second tier of the garden is designed as a grassed, open play area for football and games, bounded on one side by the box hedge, and on the other by a feature wall in warm limestone cladding which adds texture and interest, visable from the patio level too.  Behind it is the contrasting texture and colour of a dark-green Taxus (yew) hedge.   The top tier is laid out as a putting green for a family of golfing enthusiasts, with another social area that catches the sun into the evenings.  Young Sorbus (Mountain Ash) trees have been planted to provide screening and year-round interest.

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