Milton Keynes - Modern Garden
Modern garden design, showing that a fully accessible garden does not have to look institutional. This is an exciting project. Both the front and back gardens are part of the Design Brief. The old front lawn is replaced with ornamental grass borders in bold swathes, with a gravel mulch and ornamental feature rocks. A new driveway and accessible route to the front door is framed on one side by a feature raised bed with driveway lighting for dramatic effect at night. A narrow, shady, passageway, unused previously apart for storing unused pots, is turned into a woodland walk with wood-effect linear tiles, multi-stemmed trees and verdant woodland shade-loving planting. This leads onto the back garden, which is partly inspired by the Japanese use of water, grasses and beautiful materials. A large and dominant double water feature sits central to the space, with a large patio outside the kitchen and two large turning circles for ease of use around the garden. A long brick wall is painted a soft grey, and is covered with espaliered trees and a semi-circular pergola which creates a quiet, shaded retreat, not seen from any of the windows, is used for personal reflection. The planting is traditional with bold swathes of ornamental grasses. The water is audible throughout the garden and also helps reduce the temperature in the garden, which has always been a sun trap. In the opposite corner to the pergola is a new summerhouse with winter heating – the perfect spot to see the entire garden and woodland walk.