DESIGNING A COURTYARD

ONCE NIC HAD BUILT AN ADDITIONAL STRETCH OF curving wall to enclose the courtyard, the floor area was like an irregular triangle, measuring 11m x 6m on the longest sides. He then replaced the crazy paving with limestone slabs and decking, squared to the cottage. ‘It’s good to set off a design from the most dominant feature. Here, it’s the cottage,’ he explains. As a result, the decking runs parallel to the cottage wall, meeting the garden room at an angle. ‘But this looks fine, whereas creating an angle with the building wouldn’t,’ he adds.

Both decking and paving run diagonally to the long boundary wall. ‘When you look from the garden room into the furthest rounded corner, you have a long sight line that gives an impression of greater length, making the courtyard feel larger,’ says Nic. A mirror has cleverly been placed on the wall, adding to an illusion of space.

With the hard landscaping in place, Nic disguised the garden’s irregular shape by planting deep borders adjacent to the long wall and curving section, training the climbing rose ‘Blush Noisette’ to grow up it. At the furthest corner, where the walls don’t meet at a right angle, he has trained evergreen climbing plants. Finally, black-painted walls have the effect of making the boundary disappear and are a lovely foil to the planting.