Victorian Villa Gardens & Landscape

Involved from the beginning in 2017, Gareth worked in close collaboration with the client, on the maintenance, design and renovation of a Victorian villa, walled garden, formal grounds, ornamental parkland and wider estate.

Looking to the past for inspiration, the garden and landscape renovation features a contemporary balance of modernism and classic design.

With the focus having been on the restoration of the villa itself, the formal gardens & wider estate had, until 2022, been ‘gently evolving’. Avenues of trees in old meadows, either managed as ‘grazed parkland’ or wildflower meadow. More recently the old kitchen garden has seen new raised borders, a new formal lawn, Yew hedges and grass embankments. Plans for the the kitchen garden included espalier fruit trees, vegetable beds, cut flowers and a herb garden.

The wider estate will feature new orchards and hay meadows. Beekeeping has become part of the estate management, mindful of the impact of introducing honey bees into a new ecosystem.

Another 30 acres plus added to the estate in 2022 provided a hugely exciting opportunity to create an inspirational landscape based on strong design. Classic landscape design and good ecological principles. Gareth’s ambition was to see more tree planting, exotic and native, and good meadow management, with the creation of extensive wildflower meadows  in a challenging landscape. The immediate grounds of the villa will see the development of formal borders, bespoke garden architecture and a walled kitchen garden.