Around the corner, the terrace responds to the more regular dimensions of the house: she used the height of the building’s façade laid flat to dictate the proportions of the paved living space outdoors. There is room for trees and planting, and large pots filled with summer flowers, as well as tables and chairs for two or 30 people. ‘When you move outside, you move differently,’ Jinny observes. ‘There’s nothing worse than being in a space that’s too mean for the things that go on in it.’
The stone used for paving and walling is a mix of old and new, while the landscape’s green contours were shaped with recycled material. ‘I have a no-muck-away principle,’ she says. ‘The ground here is Cotswold brash and stone, and it’s very reusable.’ Crushing stone and sieving soil on site during the garden build, contractors were able to redirect ‘muck’ from going to landfill. This approach allows bespoke materials to be used, too. The gravel – in different grades at the front and back of the house – was made by crushing stone that was already there, with no need to buy it in from a quarry.
The gravel path leading to the kitchen garden with an oak fruit cage is flanked by beds filled with Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, white Oenothera lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’, pink astrantia, blue Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ and bright pink Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’.
Ngoc Minh Ngo
For Jinny’s clients, the upsides to having to live in a sea of mud for a year, surrounded by machinery, include having not only a lovely garden at the end of it, but also the chance to consolidate the site’s sustainability. Roof and groundwater, used for irrigation, is saved in 40,000 litre tanks, buried in the garden’s level changes. Jinny was grateful for clients who were on board with the engineering side of things: ‘These projects only work if everything that’s underneath them is good. Water harvesting, drainage and that sort of stuff is so important, and most of the time, nobody’s interested. I insist on a serious contractor, as you end up being able to do a lot of good.’
In terms of a planting brief, one of the clients expressed a strong appreciation for hydrangeas. And that is what they got: Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ x 140, shown to best advantage by Jinny’s bespoke railings between the parking area and the forecourt. ‘I wondered what a massive sea of ‘Annabelle’, with topiary coming out of it, and a line of espaliered hornbeam would look like,’ she says. Planted in volume, they have a theatrical quality, but have also been an excellent choice in terms of sustainability. Thriving on Cotswold brash, they do not need much attention during a long growing season and their dry flowers hold on through winter.
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