Open house
An airy gravel garden complements an open plan, modernist home in west Dorset
HANNAH GARDNER
PHOTOGRAPHS JASON INGRAM
TIN BRIEF
The Garden House.
Private gravel garden with robust structural planting.
West Dorset.
Half an acre.
Rich clay and greensand, drainage greatly improved by the addition of grit. Warm temperate with high rainfall even in the drier months.
USDA 9. he romantic Dorset hills are still gently rolling as you drop to the village of Uplyme, a picturesque pause before a final mile-long descent to the sandy bay and coastal town of Lyme Regis. Here above the main town the Lym River runs through a sheltered wooded valley and a jigsaw of houses line the slopes. Hidden among them, the
Garden House is an interesting example of sleek and functional mid-century modern architecture. Designed in 1964 by architect Howard Mitchell, this home feels secluded and relaxed despite the presence of a cluster of immediate neighbours. The singlestorey house sits within the former apple orchard of an adjacent property, and a few surviving apple trees still hug the swan-neck drive that curves through open lawns to deliver visitors at the steps of the house. Mature Acer trees, evergreen hedges and wandering thickets of bamboo create privacy, gently pushed to the margins allowing a big seaside sky to bathe the sloping south-facing site in light.
The owners Vanessa Barlow and Jethro Marshall moved here from London 11 years ago, wanting to bring some urban style to their new rural relocation. Appreciating the classic clean lines and natural
Facing page From high summer, the golden seedheads of gigantea create a translucent veil, softening the house’s strong lines, and connecting the vibrant bronze of bold phormiums and ochre flowers of Helichrysum italicum.
Above The planting in the borders adjacent to the terrace provides textural contrast and year-round interest. The low-sprawling limbs of Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Carpet’ are juxtaposed with the scampering mounds of Erigeron karvinskianus.
Above Splashes of colour provide seasonal highlights among the airy gravel planting. Drifts of architectural perennials, such as the blue African lily
‘Windsor Grey’, stand out against the soft buff tones of the feathery grass Stipa tenuissima.
materials of the many original interior features, the couple were in no hurry to make radical changes to the house, but they did want to extend it to accommodate their family, in a way that would enhance the existing architecture and sit alongside a garden that would complement the clean lines of their house.
The couple already knew Lyme Regis-based garden designer Alice Meacham and to coincide with the second phase of their extension work asked her to come up with an initial concept plan that would associate the new extension to its surrounding space, and excavate out the sloping bank to the west of the house to create an outdoor living and dining area. A well-considered post-and-beam construction was employed to extended the architecture over a generous new paved terrace, with a long, wide step up to an unfussy wooden deck that steps down at the front into the gravel garden.
Popularised by Frank Lloyd Wright, post-and-beam construction, which requires fewer support beams, allows for dramatically open interior spaces and creates a smooth transition from house to garden. Utilitarian materials were selected, white for the paintwork of the house and curved retaining walls, while functional municipal paving slabs laid in a grid format form the terrace. The house is extensively glazed,