West London garden

Our client’s brief was to create a stylish, contemporary year-round entertaining garden for the family, to create a green, peaceful escape from the outside world – and space for football.

The garden wraps around a Victorian villa in west London, and was completed in parallel to large-scale building and engineering works on the property, including a basement that extends under the lawn. This underground structure meant that any trees requiring significant rootballs would need to be elevated in raised beds to enable them to have the space to establish successfully.

We designed deep bronze-coloured planters designed to age naturally for a series of spectacular multistemmed Magnolias whose trunk shapes are as beautiful in winter without leaves as they are when coming into blossom. Under these, a rich tapestry of textural planting was introduced, with clipped yew topiary squares to inject breathing space and a darker foil to the planting.

Fossilized sandstone paving forms the terrace where informal seating and a fire-pit give focus to the space. We have also designed a bespoke water feature with gentle movement within the garden to animate and attract wildlife.