ITALIAN-INSPIRED GARDEN
Behind the earthy colours and rustic touches, plenty of hard work went into transforming a blank new-build plot into Cotty’s dream space, influenced by holidays abroad
BEFORE
The back garden of a new-build property is often a characterless space, just waiting for the owner to transform it. Cotty Lee couldn’t wait to get her hands on the dull plot behind the house she and husband Caine had just bought, and make it a special space for them both.
They’d previously lived in a flat for 11 years, so this was their first garden. The builders had left them with a long rectangle of lawn, a small patio outside the bi-fold doors and some basic fencing; Cotty was determined to make it more sociable. The couple plan to spend plenty of time outside entertaining friends, and with their dog, Sneakers.
DESIGN PROCESS
‘I designed the garden myself, taking into account the way the sun moves round,’ said Cotty. ‘The bottom end gets lots of sun later in the day, so it definitely had to be two separate relaxing areas: there was no point just having one next to the house, as we’d be missing out. It was always the plan to make the garden an outdoor room where we could eat and entertain guests as well as chill out ourselves. However, having done up the house, we were on a tight budget and knew we’d have to do lots of the work ourselves. The patio was the only labour we paid for.’
SORTING THE BASICS
‘We wanted a patio that went right across the back of the house, plus a gravelled area at the other end. To do that, we had to remove four tons of soil. We did it over a weekend with friends helping, shovelling it into a wheelbarrow and then taking it to bags on the drive. Luckily, we didn’t have to take it through the house. Also, we arranged for it to be collected by a farmer who wanted to
