Seeing the Light
Designing to place
Beautiful gardens owe their success to the unity they achieve with the surrounding landscape. In this instance, mature, broadleaf trees surrounded the outside walls of the garden; creating a woodland feel and interesting pools of light at ground level.
The most interesting woodland spaces are nearly always in an opening, where the light contrasts with the surrounding darkness of the trees and the full view of the forest layers can be appreciated from within a glade.
This design was based on creating that woodland atmosphere.

In nature, a woodland space is categorised by several layers of compatible plants mingled together, with different species being dominant at different times of year. We followed this approach, taking advantage of the changing light throughout the day, to draw attention to different parts of the borders.
Taking a resource-led approach to the design, we introduced larch and chestnut from nearby woodland to frame the planting and further enhance the sense of place in the garden.

