BRIEF

This was a small neglected front garden overlooking a busy road in the Marchmont area of Edinburgh.

The brief was to construct a garden to enhance the beauty of the house and to use Edinburgh Street cobbles wherever possible.

SOLUTION

The garden was split into two ‘rooms’: an ‘inner sanctum ’ to be enjoyed from the house, and the outer space to be admired from the street.

A curved hand woven fence of hazel rods was used to divide the ‘rooms’. [1]

The retaining wall between the path and garden was built from recycled sandstone. [2]

The paths to the front door and parallel to the main road were paved with recycled granite street cobbles. [3]

The inner concave sanctum consists of a circular grass area edged with cobbles. [4]

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Work begins on the hazel fence



The hazel fence creates an intimate grassed sitting area of Zen like simplicity, while the Phormium tenax [5] and the grasses lining the inside of the fence [6] give a vertical contrast to its strong horizontal lines.


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Trailing Aubrietia on the edge of the wall [7] will give a striking display in the spring, and the recent planting will fill out the border.


Recycled sandstone for the new wall [8] and granite street cobbles for the path [9] give the garden a timeless feel rather than a harsh prefabricated finish.

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