The Postern

The garden was long, narrow and slightly dog-legged, sloping down to a stream, with a big drop from the top patio and the view from the house largely blocked.

The owners planned to sell within a couple of years, so they wanted a relatively short-term improvement: somewhere safe for their grandchildren to play, room to entertain up to eight people with a barbecue and fire pit, and space to grow vegetables, herbs, flowers and a little fruit. As horticultural novices, they could give it five to ten hours a week.

Long, narrow gardens create tunnel vision, as the eye is drawn straight to the far end. To make this one feel wider and more balanced, a path of plank paving and decking zig-zags diagonally across it, leading the eye across the space rather than straight through it.

Semi-transparent planting of tall grasses and small trees holds something back, so the garden reveals itself gradually, while light trellising adds height against the grey stone walls without hiding them. A large planter replaces a fence at the drop from the patio, and the path steps down to a decked seating area at the bottom, with a fire pit and festoon lights above.

The finished garden has a deck path zig-zagging down past a new lawn to the seating area, with deep borders along the stone wall, netted beds for vegetables and a painted planter of salvias at the top.

It transformed how the owners used the property. Once uninviting, the garden became where they spent most of their time in the warmer months. They said it felt like having an extra room, as if the garden had a house rather than the house having a garden.