Set in stone

Designer Peter Berg has transformed a hillside landscape in Belgium into the semblance of a wilder world quite literally set in stone. Peter created this garden as an open invitation to his clients, a couple with a young son, to, as he puts it, “step outside and enjoy”, placing special emphasis on the last syllable: joy. High on the clients’ wish list was the concept of a natural stream and green space for their son to play.

Starting with a blank slate, Peter and his team deployed a powerful set of tools and machinery with the capability to shift earth, boulders, trees and water to wherever they are needed. For him, garden design is not about inspiration. “It’s more about construction,” he says. “I see the surroundings and then see the space, and then I start to construct the garden in my mind.”

Peter observed that the original slope ran in two directions from the house: up and down, and from left to right. His first step was to simplify. “It’s only good if you have the slope in one direction and it’s always better to see the slope rising in front of you.” The landform now slopes in a gradual descent from the top left side of the garden downwards before sweeping across the expanse of lawn.

The entire house is set into steep hillside, with its top floor opening on to a terrace in the back. Only the family can see the new back garden, which appears to recede far into the distance to the forest beyond. Harnessing the power of contrasts, Peter used a set of wide stone steps and roughly chiselled brick walls to transition from the linear house and terrace to the rawer elemental garden above.

The wide feathery form of Gleditsia triacanthos f. inermis marks the point of entry, while lightly shading the terrace below. This multi-stem specimen is nestled in a low coniferous skirt, combined with the blackened cones of Echinacea purpurea ‘Green Jewel’, two species of late-blooming asters and the dreamy bunchgrass Sporobolus heterolepis ‘Cloud’ veiling the front edge.