In the details

Changes in level create a greater sense of space in a small London garden

At the point where the River Thames flows through the west London borough of Chiswick it is wide and impressive, overlooked by some of the most exclusive properties in the capital. One such house, in mellow Georgian brick, belongs to Ellen and Roger Oliver, who moved here with their teenage children two years ago.

As in many London houses, the kitchen and family space are housed in a semibasement room overlooking a small, enclosed back garden. Internal building work had broadly decimated any existing garden and, working on the principle that the smaller the space the more important the detail, the Olivers called in garden designer Karen Rogers.

“This space presented a lot of familiar challenges,” says Karen, who has worked on many small gardens in the area. “There was no real terrace, just a narrow strip of paving outside the kitchen door with a central flight of stairs leading up to a higher level at the

back. On one side the garden was overlooked by neighbours, and on the other it was dominated by a very tall, blank wall.”

Ellen and Roger wanted a garden that would complement the contemporary décor in their period home, with a socialising space to seat eight when their whole family gathers together, and a peaceful spot where individuals could retreat at the end of a busy day. Karen’s solution was to extend the terrace to form a major part of the garden. “In a small garden you have to think hard about how you will use it, and then make the space work accordingly,” she says. “Primarily, this garden needed to be an extension of the indoor living space, so my priority was to design a comfortable outdoor eating and socialising space. We made a positive feature of the change in level by using it to frame a large table and built-in seating.” Backed by a deep, raised bed filled with ferns Heuchera ‘Rave On’ and a pretty Acer palmatum ‘ Dissectum’, this now forms an attractive, year-round view from inside the house.

In the higher garden a canopy of umbrella-trained Parrotia persica trees screens out the view from neighbouring windows. The paving echoes the period of the house, with reclaimed Yorkstone and an infill pattern of decorative brick, and the impact of the new garden studio is softened by an L-shaped bed dominated by a fine, multi-stemmed birch underplanted with ferns, roses and Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’. Four more square beds are packed with a long-flowering combination of Rosa Claire Austin (= ‘Ausprior’), Geranium Rozanne (= ‘Gerwat’) and Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, underplanted with early flowering bulbs.

Thanks to intelligent design, this tiny garden, with its contemporary furniture and planting, has not just met the Olivers’ expectations, but has far exceeded them.

Although the individual planting areas are relatively small, they are positioned so that they combine to maximise their visual impact. The use of dark hedging at the end of the garden suggests a sense of greater depth and mystery. A pattern of paving frames the garden studio, which is clad in a slatted wood that inspired the cladding used to conceal a party wall.

Left to right, from above Clothing some walls in climbers provides an opportunity to grow a wider range of plants, including Clematis ‘Étoile Violette’, which is happy in shade.