A Mature Garden in Henbury
In 1997 I was lucky enough to be commissioned by clients who were adventurous and open-minded about their garden. They were also in possession of a large steeply sloping south facing site on the Henbury escarpment north of Bristol. Together we set about making their garden into a place which was manageable and met they and their growing family could eat out, enjoy some privacy, bask in the sun or relax in shade, grow vegetables and generally enjoy the view and a garden which progressed from an outdoor room to natural woodland.
After 17 years I visited my clients and their garden, and was thrilled to find how sympathetically they had maintained their garden, with just the right mixture of attention and laissez faire. They were kind enough to say this:
"Our garden has been an absolute delight for seventeen years. Your design transformed a difficult and rather unmanageable hillside into an interesting garden that works for us in so many ways.
"The walk through the garden to the woodland area at the bottom flows naturally down through the terraces, taking in the canal, the pond and the wildflower bank. We have a large deck area by the house for relaxing and entertaining, and most importantly, a vegetable plot...thanks to your advice we have plants that suit the site, many of which we whould not have known about.
"Inevitably over the years there have been some casualties but the basic planting has remained very much as you planned. We felt able to hold our heads up high when you visited!" (so did I!)
