This garden was a prime example of how often a small garden is a lot more challenging to design than a large spacious one. The particular demand of this garden design was trying to accomplish all the requirements within the scheme, while maintaining as many aspects of good spatial design as possible. Any landscape or garden design requires a certain amount of compromise, but for a small garden, a willingness to compromise is vital.
Although from the outset, this appealing little garden displayed plenty of a potential, there were numerous challenges to contend with. Firstly the back of the cottage is North East facing meaning that the area around the house never sees any direct sunlight. The garden previously consisted of a lawn around the house and a patio area at the rear of the garden. This meant that a large part of the lawn never saw any sunlight. In addition, as this dark and often wet grass area was positioned around the house and provided the only access to the back gate and outhouse, it was regularly walked on. This meant that, at best, in the summer the grass was patchy and rough and, at worst, in the winter it could become boggy and difficult. The patio area at the back of the garden was raised by roughly 300-400mm above the lawn and given the size of the garden could be considered too large for requirement.
My first consideration was therefore to partially reverse the situation meaning a portion or all of the lawn would be placed at the rear gaining the benefit of the sunny aspect while some element of hardscape would be placed around the house and access points, still leaving some planting areas around the house itself.
Behind the outhouse, which is a pleasant looking little old building built from the same Northamptonshire stone, there was an old wooden shed. It was agreed that this shed was far too big for the few tools the clients kept in it and it wasted valuable space. I thought that given the position of this area in the North East corner of the garden it was perfectly placed to be a lovely little trap for warm evening sun. Also upon inspection behind the shed I saw that the side of the outhouse and high rear wall would provide a pleasing back drop to the space. With the addition of the presence of a mature Pyracantha overhanging the old shed, I saw that this space could provide a charming dining area, which given the position, would feel surprisingly intimate and secluded.