Modernist Garden Design In Alderley Edge East Cheshire

The start of a new garden design project is something that fills me with a sense of excitement excitement from the very first viewing right through to the completed installed designs. To begin every garden design project must surely start with the question, what and why? The garden in this feature is the back garden in a much larger project in Alderley Edge in East Cheshire, North West UK comprising of a wildflower orchard, a roof garden, this Japanese inspired minimalist back garden, a front garden which is currently being installed, a stumpery more on that later, and a croquet lawn.

On first viewing this back garden it was closed off from the wider landscape by a 2-meter hurdle fence and gate (see before pics in this feature)  The client’s brief “we need some outside the box thinking to create the wow factor”  To achieve this in the designs my first task when designing the garden was to remove the worn hurdle fence and, in its place, install a low-level yew hedge thereby connecting the controlled designed garden space to the wider, wilder, untamed landscape. Doing this served to heighten the juxtaposition between the controlled landscape and its artifice with the wilder less managed agricultural fields and trees beyond.

The real task in setting out to create this contrast, to instil a sense of connection in difference where both exist in a symbiotic complimentary harmony. And, in drawing views of this wilder more natural landscape into the controlled ID space it serves to heighten the sense of the precepted designed space and its correlating contrast. In creating this connection, it also made me aware of the need for a pared back structure relying on geometric angular patterns enhanced & accentuated by evergreen planting.

The main plant in this combination being the chamomile lawn, intended to bring the sense of wild untamed summer landscapes into the garden by means of scent whilst the inset patterns of granite stepping slabs is a nod to the steps one might take through a summer’s meadow. The existing drystone wall also proved an important element in creating and further enhancing material connection, allowing me to create a balance between contemporary porcelain paving and what might be considered traditional rustic into a space that, through the careful blend of old and new materials transforms into a contemporary/traditional garden design modernism. You can view the full project gallery at this link or to get in touch use this link