Victorian House

The Grange is a handsome Victorian house nestled into the Hampshire Downs. Dating from the mid 19th century the property has had several uses and interesting occupants over the years. It was recently fully refurbished and extended, providing an opportunity to remodel the surrounding landscape and create a garden that feels wholly connected to house. The property benefits from generous grounds and mature boundary planting, creating a very private garden.

When we first visited the site, the existing garden had become tired and overgrown. The hard landscaping and planting was dated and out of harmony with the house. The topography at the rear of the building sloped steeply uphill, which was not only impractical, but felt oppressive, casting shade and obstructing views into the garden.

Our Master Plan concentrates on opening up the garden to create vistas and views to make the garden feel like an extension of the house, whilst increasing the sense of sky and allowing lots of natural light into the building. We focussed upon reducing the steep slope at the back of the house, pulling it away from the building, to create a series of terraced lawns and pathways.

The design creates an open and elegant space around the house, focussing on areas for entertaining and enjoyment of the garden at different times of day. The terraced lawns create a sculptural amphitheatre effect, which focuses the view in two directions, back towards the property from the higher areas of garden, whilst also sweeping the eye up into the garden when viewed from below, encouraging you to explore.

The separate spaces around the house will be framed with beautiful planting, including clipped hedges, shrubs, roses, perennials and ornamental grasses. Moving further away from the building the planting transitions to a wilder, more natural scheme, as it blends into the established woodland belt surrounding the garden.

Other important elements of the design include remodelling the approach to the house, improved areas for parking, a large level area of lawn at the front of property for games, a formal garden with herbaceous and rose borders, a wildlife pond and wild garden, an orchard, productive garden and woodland walk. Material choices have been chosen to compliment the period of the property and reflect the purpose of the different areas and proximity to the house.

Construction is underway and we look forward to seeing the completed garden and sharing it with you on our project pages in the near future.