Once a sunken pub garden, this Herts plot is now a contemporary space BURSTING WITH BLOOMS
GARDEN makeover
Amelanchier lamarckii
Carpinus betulus
Sandy White Porcelain Paving, £66/m2 londonstone.co.uk
When the Henderson family moved into their converted Victorian pub in the hilltop village of Therfield in Hertfordshire, the history of their home meant the garden came with a few issues. “The rear garden was formerly the location of a swimming pool, sunken with retaining walls of modern red brick topped by an assortment of wooden fencing,” explains Martin Henderson.
“There were over 20 very large conifers planted around the edges to screen the walls, leaving little room for planting. The centre of the garden was laid to lawn but sunken and shaded by those trees, so hard to maintain, especially as we sit on solid chalk with not more than 1-2cm of soil. We used mattocks and pickaxes to garden rather than forks and spades!”
But it wasn’t until he and wife Nicola had a large modern extension built, to accommodate an open-plan family kitchen-diner, that the problem of the garden became more pressing. “The extension was beautiful but totally disconnected from the garden,” remembers Martin.
The new extension had also eaten up a substantial amount of outside space, and now large glass sliding doors and picture windows faced into what was left. “It was a space that had to become useful, connected to the house and be visually attractive all year as it would be in constant view,” he adds.
And having left London for the country when expecting their first child, the couple now had a brood of three – Calum, Owen and Blake – so the space had to accommodate the needs of busy family life too.
BEFORE
DESIGNER TO THE RESCUE
