garden design in Taunton Somerset

This is a current project of mine in Taunton; I was there yesterday to see how the build is going.  The house is an old coach house, set within part of the original walled Victorian kitchen garden (very good soil!).  The clients had put in a box mini-knot (a knottette?) some years ago, slightly too close to the house, leaving just a small space (too small) for a terrace – as you can see, it’s pretty cramped and pokey, though a gorgeous setting.

To increase the feeling of space, I’ve designed a slightly wider terrace – as wide as I can make it without compromising the knottette, using deep, pale Yorkstone slabs.  I’ve also designed a pair of symmetrical wide, shallow steps that wrap around the box, making it feel part of the terrace and so also increasing the illusion of space.

This (below) is the rest of the garden as it was before we began work; lovely wall (though obsurred by a box-edged path) but your eye rushes to the end of the garden, stopping only to wonder what on earth the blob in the middle of the lawn is.

My design (see model below) re-aligns the view to the width, not the length, of the garden, so the wall will be much more of a feature.  It’s shady under the wall, so will be full of hellebores, ferns, hakonechloa grasses and small white geraniums (geranium sanguineum album – it’s one I love and you can see it here www.amandapatton.co.uk/portfolio/south-molton/ image 7, where it’s making a lovely association with a Welsh poppy and some alchemilla mollis).

To the back of the new (square) lawn, I’ve designed a ‘yew walk’, which will give a lovely backdrop to the planting in front, and some good structure and shadows.  This leads to an evening terrace and a herb garden, which features a brick edged sunken pool, and beyond that is a vegetable garden.  I’ll post more photos as things develop!