Essentially, the house comprised a trio of brick volumes within a spreading wedge of land, which gave Arne the space to draw their lines out to the point where the garden dissolved into the voluminous green backdrop of woodland beyond the end boundary. ‘We wanted to keep the main aspect from the central section of the house as a plain green space, very strong and graphic. Originally, the whole garden inclined gently, but this lawn needed to be dead flat to complement the angularity of the house, so we took out all the slopes.
‘Rather than build retaining walls, we laid broad steps in pale stone to flow up from the terrace in a bold pattern, which fills the view through the main picture windows,’ he continues. ‘Then, we made the lawn as large as we could, framed by hedges and pleached stilts of copper beech, which retain a year-round presence and have good winter colour.’
Corylus avellana.
Annaick Guitteny
On a cold and frosty day, the marcescent foliage of these hedges positively glows in the low slanting sunshine, echoing the warm brick of the building and contrasting with the solid shapes of dark yew – clipped into domes, tiered topiary and a niche designed to frame a sculpture. The perfect piece has yet to be sourced, but this is a garden of considered details, so every element must be worthy of its place.
‘Beyond those hedges, at the back, I have created a winter-flowering wilderness garden, full of hamamelis, ferns, hellebores and snowdrops, with a path that loops around through the wedge of garden spreading out to the right of the lawn,’ explains Arne. ‘It was deliberately planted, so you couldn’t see most of those flowers from the house. The idea was to entice you out to explore.’
A row of tall Carpinus betulus offers seasonal interest above copper beech hedges.
Annaick Guitteny
The final section of the garden lines up with the left-hand wing of the house, which is given over to an indoor swimming pool lined in dark travertine. In summer, the view out from this dramatic space is filled with sanguisorbas, astrantias, Iris sibirica and lots of Deschampsia cespitosa, which together evoke the spirit of a lush and casually augmented water meadow. At this time of year, it is a quiet space, framed by those all-important hedges, which lead you back to the calm, green heart of the garden.
Tangentially recalling the Edwardian predilection for an Arts and Crafts division of the garden into outdoor rooms, Arne has managed to skilfully create a sequence of spaces on a scale appropriate to the dramatic interiors of the house. ‘This garden could not be delicate,’ he observes. With all its angles and volumes highlighted by the sparkle of a heavy frost, it is clear that here he has met a challenging design brief with a suitably robust response.
Arne Maynard Garden Design: arnemaynard.com
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