We have a very exciting urban garden in the making and this sculptural fire from Glamm Fire will be the cherry on the cake.
Stunning in design, beautifully finished and exquisitely detailed in Corten steel, the fire also uses Bioethanol, which is 100% green.
We cannot wait to see this in place.
Better known for his fashion and still life photography, Phillippe Jarrigeon fell in love with the gardens at Château de Marqueyssac whilst location scouting and captured these enchanting images for Pin Up magazine.
Insanely surreal and appealing to the child, adult and mad hatter in all of us.
Wondering down a mown pathway, with the dappled shade from many trees dancing on either side, I gaze ahead to see the reflections on a lake drawing me on.
I breathe in and turn right and step into a grove of wild cherry, Prunus avium, planted in a large square formation grid. The design, so regimented amongst the naturalistic planting, gives this grove so much sense of place. All around me tall pale tree trunks reach up to the sky, they look like pillars. The canopies above flutter and play with the light. It feels powerful and emotive, I am standing in natures church, happily worshipping its beauty.
I have been visiting Bryan’s ground for four years, each year I am delighted by its design and amazed at how quickly the garden is maturing in the rich loam of Herefordshire.
The house, owned by David Wheeler and Simon Dorrell, lies near Presteigne on the border between England and Wales and was built between 1911 and 1913. The gardens are home to 20 garden rooms, a rose garden, topiary, box pareterres, follies, long hedges, a ha-ha, a potager, a lake, a river and a thriving arboretum with long mown paths. It is a dream come true garden.
The planting is wonderful, sometimes colour themed, often very formal, at times very wild.
At the entrance, by the house, beautiful fruit trees line the scallop edged canal, they are underplanted with squares of 4ft-high Iris sibirica. If you come between mid May and early June you are greeted by thousands of these mass planted Iris in dazzling blue full bloom.
Full of anticipation, one flows from one garden room to the next, drawn on by the next peek of an urn, a gap in the hedges, or a jaunty building. It never disappoints, there is something special round every corner and down every path. The carefully curated vistas anchor the garden to the surrounding landscape and make you stop, gaze and wonder how you might be able to make it so you could stay here forever.
Bryan’s Ground, Stapleton (Nr Presteigne), Herefordshire (01544 260001;www.bryansground.co.uk). It will open again next spring to the public.
David Wheeler and Simon Dorrell are editors of Hortus magazine, a collection of essays and notes on horticulture. http://www.hortus.co.uk/
The grid, Bryan’s Ground © Cat Howard
Mown pathways, Bryan’s Ground © Cat Howard
The canal, Bryan’s Ground © Cat Howard
The house at Bryan’s Ground © Cat Howard
The wonderful planting, Bryan’s Ground © Cat Howard
For this Kew garden, which overlooks the River Thames, we designed some lovely powder coated steel planters in dove grey, which work on two levels. These were filled with large Buxus balls and grasses.
The bins are now contained in a bespoke bin store, the front bed was planted with new green and purple planting and the window boxes with smart clipped Buxus balls.
This gallery contains 5 photos.
This week we have started searching out inspiration for a client in Primrose Hill. This client is a good friend whose garden is overlooked by wonderful towering London Plane trees, they give the whole garden a lovely verdant feel and their movement is pleasing. However, whilst appreciating their beauty, she finds herself a bit disappointed at the shade they leave her …
This exquisite garden, designed by Citylaboratory for Les Jardins de Métis, is a fine example of designing with clarity. The egg shaped pool captures the beauty of the surrounding nature, reflecting and so transforming the space into a garden that sings with simplicity.
Citylaboratory say that “ROTUNDA is an elemental garden, based on an atmospheric and poetic perception of materials, light, plants and the passing of time. It is a reflection on the fundamental themes of the art of the garden.
The garden is to be filled with water at the beginning of its life and to be left to evolve over time, becoming a climate register device. It will be sensible to changing light conditions, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, rainfall and evaporation.
Water is used as a raw material to create a reflecting surface. The container is simply a frame that suspends water above the ground; a homogenous black object, assembled in a direct way, minimizing the expression of assembly joints and the contact with the ground.
The garden will over time accumulate leaves, dust and pollen, be inhabited by birds and insects, leading to the cultivation and growth of new life within the garden.”
The garden won 1st Prize International Design Competition.
Photo by Carlos Comendador
Today is the day we wish to praise the work of leading London based photographer Dan Tobin Smith.
In amongst his expert still life portfolio is a magical selection of shots that capture nature perfectly. Using a round mirror, Dan creates the illusion that there is a world within a world.
The results are both surreal and utterly beautiful.
by Dan Tobin Smith
Sometimes a product pops up that is not only divinely imaginative but utterly beautiful. Check out these wonderful lights by Bocci, they make interior and exterior lights. We double lust after the exterior ones, which have a dual use of planters as well as lights.
We have just begun the process of designing the terrace of an eco house in Holland Park. The house is one of three, set within a private gated courtyard. They have a wonderful sense of space and are, as it says on the website, sustainably stunning.
It is an honour to work on a building that has been designed with an eco ethos. A lot of research will have to be made into the technicalities of building a large roof terrace. Weight will be a huge consideration as this terrace sits on the second floor and for insulation reasons some of the walls are made of pulp board and shredded newspaper – it will be interesting to work out how to function alongside these materials without compromising their structure.
The brief from the clients is exciting to say the least, they want an antithesis to their other garden in Wales; the garden there is a country garden, it has a large variety of planting and has been planned and gardened by them for many years. This terrace is their town garden, they want a selective choice of plants in a contemporary and inspirational space. They invited us to taste some food they had just eaten, we sampled the delicious spoonful of wonderfully fragrant and fresh Israeli salad which was to become the basis of my brief for their garden. She said “That is what I want my garden to be like. Zingy!”
How wonderful to have clients like this.
Cat Howard Blog 