A large 1930s house sitting in an acre of 'wild' garden. The large refurbished house is a building in the Modernist tradition, with strong horizontal lines, bright bright white render and a flat sedum roof. The owners had spent time in Germany and Austria, and liked the 'wild' style of gardening. Taking inspiration from the name of the house, Birchfield, we removed 90% of the existing planting, all of which was brightly-coloured and non-native, and created a semi-natural woodland. Planted with numerous birch species, groundcovers and large drifts of bulbs and ferns, as well as numerous small trees and shrubs. We moved the driveway so that it snakes around the property and through the wood, emerging only on the approach to the house to reveal a large open lawn surrounded by informal banks of planting. On one side of the house we created a different atmosphere in the formal courtyard, surrounded by Magnolias, Camellias, maples and bamboos, as well as raised bench planters with rare and unusual plants.
