Landscape and Garden Design
Town Gardens
A town garden should be an extension of living space, a private outdoor room that makes the most of every available square metre. Whether a compact London courtyard or a larger suburban plot, we approach each project with the same rigour and creativity, balancing hard landscaping, planting and practical requirements to create spaces that are beautiful to look at and genuinely enjoyable to use.
Gardens provide great opportunity to increase biodiversity in our towns and cities. We strive to encourage wildlife by including planting that provides food and habitats for many different creatures including invertebrates, small mammals and birds.
Country Gardens
Designing a country garden is about connection, to the surrounding landscape, to the seasons and to the particular character of the site. We work with the natural topography, existing trees and views to create gardens that feel as though they have always belonged to their setting, layering in planting schemes and structural elements that evolve and mature beautifully over time.
We design to clients’ needs and wishes with particular regard to the maintenance load with which they feel comfortable. For example, whether they have regular professional gardeners, enjoy the process of working in the garden or want to minimise the time required to maintain the beauty of the space.
Large Gardens
Designing a large garden involves careful consideration of space, movement and scale. A large plot demands a clear organising structure with a framework of paths, enclosures and sight lines that gives the garden coherence without sacrificing the sense of discovery and surprise. We bring both design ambition and engineering precision to every large-scale project we undertake.
Large gardens may seem daunting but can often be quite forgiving with regards to upkeep with areas kept more wild and a little chaos allowed to reign. Nearer the living space a more intimate garden can develop with spaces divided into more manageable areas.
Small Gardens
A small garden needs the most carefully thought-out design to make the most of limited space. Precise detailing, clever use of levels, and a planting scheme that performs through the seasons are all essential. We relish the creative challenge of a constrained plot, some of our most inventive and satisfying work has come from the smallest of gardens.
A small garden can still pack a punch with planting with clever use of vertical space with climbing plants, pleached trees (those trained into flat panels) and species choice that gives a long season of interest.
Pool Gardens
A well-designed swimming pool is a wonderful addition to a garden and should be valued as an ornamental feature in its own right, not simply a functional amenity. We design pool gardens that integrate the water into the wider landscape, considering how it looks from the house, how the surrounding terrace and planting frame the experience of being poolside, and how the garden works equally well when the pool is not in use.
Plants around a swimming pool are hugely important and can provide shade, screen views, add beauty and generally make a place which feels more natural and comfortable.
Show Gardens
Benedict has designed and built show gardens for the Royal Horticultural Society, winning a Silver Gilt medal at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival for The Clints and Grykes Garden, a bold, critically acclaimed design rooted in a very specific upland limestone landscape. Show garden work demands design clarity, horticultural knowledge and the ability to realise a complex vision within demanding time and budget constraints.
Current Projects
This small garden on the south coast of mid Cornwall sits on a steep slope behind a contemporary coastal property, with views across the bay. We are currently undertaking the full design and construction monitoring process, from initial site analysis and concept through to planting and final completion. Follow along as the project takes shape.