Fern House
Year of completion
2021
Location
Chilterns, Buckinghamshire
Landscape Contractor
Hatton Garden Landscapes
Photography
Jamie hunt
Paul and Jess, young and ambitious homeowners, had meticulously tailored the interiors of their home, a bespoke new build with brick and knapped flint walls typical of the local Chilterns vernacular. But when it came to the garden, they faced a challenge beyond their expertise. After our design consultation, they knew they needed a garden designer to help turn their vision into reality.
Their mission was clear: tackle the garden’s awkward slopes, create smooth transitions from house to terrace, add height and structure, find shade for those scorching summer days, create inviting seating areas, and make sure the planting scheme was both stunning and easy to maintain.
The garden lay bare, save for grass, fencing, and a patch of impractical developer concrete paving.
Subtle slopes traversed the garden, remedied by the design to create a level lawn and a distinctive raised seating area, complete with low-slung seats and a firepit, offering a new view back towards the house.
Adjacent to the house, the modest patio underwent a transformation into a deeper, zoned space, delineated by a Cedar pergola over the dining area and open lounging spaces. Raised beds, constructed in hand cut Danish bricks and knapped flint, echoed the home’s architectural elements, blending seamlessly with the elegant limestone paving.
Planting zones, strategically positioned along the lawn boundary and within raised beds, softened the boundaries and added visual interest. Amelanchier ‘Robin Hill’ trees provided vertical structure and seasonal excitement with their early blossoms in Spring and fiery autumn foliage.
Additional requirements seamlessly integrated into the design—a discreet storage shed tucked into the rear corner, a concealed BBQ area, and a cedar-slatted shelter camouflaging recycling bins— every detail was carefully considered.
Driven by budget considerations, the design iterations created a rich and captivating space, sure to enhance property value. Paul and Jess were delighted with the garden’s transformation, elevating their daily life. Paul lauded the merits of collaborating with a garden designer, acknowledging the role in unlocking their vision and minimising stress.
“We decided to work with Jamie on our garden re-design after attempting to take on the project ourselves. We had an idea of what we wanted but found it difficult to articulate in the right level of detail to the landscape contractors and thus we ended up with 3 wildly different prices and 3 totally different approaches to the job.
We went back to the beginning, and Jamie started with the basics of what our inspiration was, any things we really wanted, how involved we wanted to be with the upkeep of the plants etc. He presented back some mood boards, some sketches and even had a 3D design made up for us, and our dream garden started to come to life. Crucially he created scale drawings, itemised list of materials & supplies needed for the job, and even created their own estimate on what the job cost might come in at. This enabled us to go back to landscape contractors (some of which were recommended by Jamie) and get a consistent price back and approach to undertaking the work.
Once the contract was awarded, Jamie was checking in with the Site Manager to ensure any issues or queries were dealt with, which meant I didn’t have the on-site team disturbing me while I was working.
Post completion, Jamie did the final walk around and assisted with the snagging list, before signing off. We then met again in the summer to check on progress and they gave some helpful gardening tips to ensure the scheme they helped designed flourished to its full potential.
We are really happy with the outcome of our garden project and it has completely transformed the space. Without Jamie and the team, we would have ended up with something less special, less what we wanted (which Jamie helped us to unlock), the process would have been significantly more stressful, and would still most likely be work in progress (or worse not even started!). Would strongly recommend Edit Landscape Design if you are thinking of embarking on creating your dream garden space.”
Paul & Jess
