A large garden is something to treasure, especially if you live in London, so it’s essential to create something perfect for you and your family. Our designs never come together until we consider each component: furniture, plants, and hardscaping. From this we create something inspirational.
The interplay of contrast in this garden is like a masterclass in controlled serenity. And with its strikingly angular topiary and similarly shaped stone frames, it echoes the grand landscaping style of an old Royal estate.
The colour scheme is tightly complementary. We brought just three colours into play: the green of the Buxus (box) plants, the cream of the paving, and the black of the stone seating cubes. However, the textures and levels also play their part.
Keeping borders simple is a priority for clients who have no time, which leaves us the challenge of how we add visual interest to the lawn.
In this case, we’ve used paving with integrated eye breakers. such as the darker lines on the patio to hold your gaze, preventing it from sweeping across the garden in a glance. The dividing pathway is an eye breaker too, of course. It breaks the otherwise square lawn into more aesthetically pleasing rectangles.
From pebbles to valleys and rivers, nature produces far more curves and circles than it does rectangular shapes. And that may be why so many of our clients are drawn to circular lawn garden designs. Mimicking natural forms, they can look a little like giant lily pads—as in the image above.
Of course, adding circular elements to a rectangular garden will increase the size of your borders. If you’re willing to put in the effort, though, irregular borders can certainly bring your garden to life.
Our use of bold topiary mounds in this large garden contrasts nicely with the feathery border. However, their formality could feel oppressive without the balancing effect of more natural forms.
These forms include the gravel pathway and the medium sized tree trunks around the edge of the natural veranda. The small feature wall we have introduced, meanwhile, is light enough in colour to balance out the shade in this garden.
With so much in the way of hard landscaping, there is a risk that steps can get lost in the structure, which is why the steps have been opened out as more of a feature. And the use of bullnose (curved top) steps not only makes the whole layout safer, it also softens the overall design, integrating it with natural forms.
Meanwhile, the size and colour variation of the paving would add depth and visual interest—especially after rain, as you can see in the picture.
You don’t have to rely on hard landscaping for levels. The silver birch trees that have been planted in this large garden will one day be taller than the house. Crucially, they’ll still let the sunlight through.
The living gazebo provides additional visual interest, while the box hedging frames the trunks of the trees. And because the plants appear to be growing from the lawn, this otherwise flat, rectangular space feels refreshingly three-dimensional.
Doesn’t this garden look inviting? It’s as if you can just open the patio doors and fall into sumptuous comfort. London gardens designs prioritise functional space by pushing back the lawn and borders. A modern outdoor sofa like this makes a fabulously soft seating space for all the family.
This is a south-facing garden, so it was necessary to control glare from the sun. We chose paving stones with that in mind. Their colour beautifully complements the green of the lawn.
Pleached trees look absolutely amazing. They can almost form a hedgerow on stilts. We think they’re an excellent way to frame and divide a garden without blocking your view at ground level. As you can see here, they also create the impression of grandeur.
Our focus on plants with form is deliberate. Instead of flowers and colourful shrubs, we kept things simple with topiary and hedges. But we made sure there was plenty of green to soften the severity of the paving.
Designing large gardens around barn conversions can be tricky, not least because their shapes can be irregular. We also don’t want to overpower the building itself so a Victorian or Mediterranean garden design would be ill suited.
Combining the authentic rusticity of riven paving stones with the modernity of clean white pebbles gave rise to this neutral aesthetic. The planting is minimal and low-maintenance, and the stepping stone pathways help to soften the look.
