Elegant front garden

The brief for this large front garden was to balance structure with softness, creating a cohesive look to complement the architecture of the house, and add a touch of style to the driveway. A key requirement was to completely remove an existing resin bound driveway that was in poor repair, and rethink the planting to create a low-maintenance/high impact scheme with strong vertical accents and a long season of interest. A slope leading up to the front door was not liked and the decision was taken to remove it in favour of a statement step in keeping with the proportions of the porch. The overall style is classical-contemporary with a touch of ‘understated elegance’.

While some lawn was removed to make way for more parking, an area of lawn was retained to ensure an appropriate amount of green space to the driveway. Hard landscaping materials were chosen to harmonise with the façade of the house. Granite setts were used to create clean lines, accentuate planted areas and provide a retaining edge to borders. Cotswold stone chippings replaced the former resin driveway with a series of stepping stones adding interest. A new, wide and deep statement doorstep, created using large format porcelain paving, enhances the entrance and creates a welcoming threshold.

The overall result is a pared-back, elegant scheme that combines ample space for off-street parking with layered, soft landscaping featuring ornamental cherry trees, shrubs, dwarf evergreen hedging and herbaceous perennials. A specimen, multi-stem Silver Birch, underplanted with a carpet of Japanese grasses, creates a minimalist focal point in the lawn. Subtle garden lighting was used to accent the new doorstep, and illuminate the specimen trees and planted borders after dark.