WORCESTERSHIRE DESIGN
Cloud-pruned trees, bubbling water features and serene grey stone have transformed what was an unprepossessing plot at the foot of the Malvern Hills into a zen-like, Japanese-style scheme
A zen-like English garden with cloud-pruned pines, reflective water features and smooth stone paving.
There was nothing here before we started work,” says Jim Burns as he stands looking at his garden, a modern take on an Oriental garden that is so immaculately conceived it would not seem out of place at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. “Nothing. In fact, at the start of last year, this whole area was covered in tarmac, and what is now my home was the site of a four-car garage,” he continues.
The property is idyllically situated, at the foot of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, and in 2015 Jim decided it was time to do something special with it, beginning with the removal of the tarmac and a refurbishment of the garage. With the help of his daughter, who owns an interior design company, the up-and-over garage doors were replaced with Crittallstyle windows framed in cedar panels that will soon age to a silvery softness, and the interior was transformed into a stylish three-bedroom house.
To turn the unprepossessing tarmac yard into a garden, he chose Matt Keightley, the designer who created the garden for Help for Heroes, which won the People’s Choice Award at RHS Chelsea in 2014. “Actually, I interviewed six designers for the job but Matt was the one who really listened to my ideas, rather than telling me what I should have,” says Jim. Over the course of much detailed discussion, the idea of an Oriental-inspired garden evolved and in February Matt finally set to work.
“This is a breathtaking location and it was important that my design respected that,” says Matt. “I certainly didn’t want to make a perfect copy of a Japanese garden, which would have sat strangely in this setting.” Instead he selected classic Oriental elements – water, gravel and cloud-pruned trees – and reinterpreted them for the English countryside. The result is serene, harmonious and absolutely at home on the Worcestershire hillside.
On one side of the almost square plot surrounding the house is a relaxation area, where sinuous white chairs sit like pieces of sculpture on super-sized paving slabs of grey stone. The rest of this part of the garden is laid with gravel of a slightly deeper shade, punctuated with vast sandstone boulders from a nearby quarry. Against this cool backdrop, Matt has used a paredback planting scheme that combines clipped mounds of yew and Pinus sylvestris ‘Watereri’ (dwarf pine) with beautiful multi-stemmed magnolias and cloud-pruned bonsai pines.
“Throughout the year, this garden has a calm, sculptural presence but I wanted to include a series of ‘moments’ to mark
the passing of the seasons,” says Matt. “I chose just two varieties of magnolia – M. stellata and M. x loebneri ‘Merrill’ – both of which are covered in masses of white flowers in early spring. We also put in hundreds of the bright blue, summer-flowering Iris sibirica ‘Blue King’ and, for an autumn show, planted
Quercus palustris (pin oaks), with leaves that turn rich shades of russet and red, then fall onto the grey stones in a vivid carpet.”
Then there is the water. It is everywhere. A broad rill runs the length of the garden, zigzagging generously across much of its width. The water flows from an impressive granite wall on the western boundary and glides gently down the garden before ending in a murmur of soft bubbles in the relaxation zone. “We used a special aerator to get that effect,” says Matt. “I’m really pleased with how it worked out.”
The rill is a technical tour de force but the water feature everyone seems most drawn to is a simple mirror pool at the heart of the garden. “You can’t walk past it without stopping to look at the reflections of trees and sky,” says Matt.
Jim was determined water should be an important element and is as delighted as Matt with the result. “Matt understood my ideas perfectly and I had high hopes for the garden. Even so, I’m astounded by how successful it has been.”
GARDEN GUIDE
Orientation South facing.
Soil The area was covered in tarmac before work commenced. It required extensive excavation, complex drainage and improvement. Special features Controlled plant palette designed for year-round presence with several seasonal peaks. Water features include a rill, mirror pond and granite water wall.
Designer Matt Keightley, Rosebank Landscaping, 020 8948 5544, rosebanklandscaping.co.uk.