Couin de Vacque

The house sits high on Guernsey’s south coast, with long views across the water towards the neighbouring islands. That outlook is the garden’s greatest asset and shaped every decision. The architecture is modern, all clean lines and glazing, so the garden needed to support it through restraint and clarity rather than compete with the building or the view.

Working alongside Chris Jesson of The Groovy Gardener, I was asked to redesign specific planted areas: a recently cleared bank in the lower garden, a raised border in the upper garden and a narrow strip seen from the house. The site is exposed to strong winds all year, and keeping open views from every part of the garden was a priority, so creating shelter was never an option.

The bank became the heart of the scheme: a textured sweep of evergreen sedges and grasses such as Carex, Pennisetum and Uncinia, punctuated by the architectural forms of Phormium and Agave, with Ceratostigma, sedum, Mahonia repens and shrub roses for flower and autumn colour. It stays low enough to keep the view, while adding depth and a sense of transition between the garden and the landscape beyond.

Lower down, where the imported loam gives way to shallow shale and hoggin, the planting becomes lighter and drier: Stipa, Eryngium, Achillea and Westringia, with Tamarix to filter the wind and Agave and Crassula for form. Simple new borders and small seating areas show how an unused lawn could become a calm place to sit.

Away from the wind, a narrow north-east-facing side garden seen from the staircase window is treated as a composed view: layered ferns, sedges and shade perennials such as Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’, Astrantia and Actaea beneath a climbing hydrangea. At the front, violet clematis and honeysuckle scramble through an existing hedge, with Osmanthus and Sarcococca discreetly screening a pump.

This is a work in progress. Photorealistic visualisations let the clients see the planting in its setting before committing, and working alongside Chris Jesson, we are now bringing this vision to life.