Victorian Villa, Berkshire

Detailed masterplan, hard materials and planting moodboards for a Victorian family home on the edge of a historic town in Berkshire. Key to this design was the client’s request to create a restful sanctuary for her and her son, full of colour, scent, sound and texture. Like the house itself, the garden delights in the perfect balance of old and new: clean lines trace out simple contemporary spaces that brim with traditional English country plants. All of which are as much a feast for the senses as they are for the butterflies and bees who will call the garden home too.

The hard materials chosen to build the garden continue this balance of the modern and the historic. When the house was originally built, the area was famous for the production of high-quality bricks, and the architects of the time took great pride in using them to striking visual effect in houses, churches and municipal buildings throughout the town. In the design, these reclaimed decorative bricks tie the garden back beautifully to the house and surrounding buildings, while contrasting equally powerfully with the monochrome minimalism of the paving, pergolas and pond.