Victorian terrace garden in Stratford-upon-Avon

The new owner of this Victorian terraced house in Stratford-upon-Avon needed to address certain features of her garden. The existing garden had a strip of lawn, very narrow borders and was overlooked to the rear. The steps down to the rear alleyway were in a state of disrepair and had been poorly designed so they needed to be replaced. In addition, the owner wanted to provide space to store two large recycling bins. Having downsized from a larger garden she wanted more planting areas both to continue her interest in gardening and to soften the space and provide privacy and a sense of seclusion.

New steps were designed to provide safe access to the alleyway. As the alley was at a lower level than the garden, an area was carved out to store the recycling bins and allow easy, level access to the street. The bin store is screened by trellis and a strategically placed trellis panel stops the garden from being overlooked from the windows of the house across the passage. The use of a circle and ellipse has created much larger planting areas. The garden still had its original terracotta and blue brick walls, and part of the side return had the original blue brick pavers. The owner wished to continue this theme in the path and edging to the gravelled areas. As the garden faces south a wooden arbour with storage space was included to offer shade in the heat of the day. with a small herb bed placed both to allow easy access from the kitchen and to offer fragrance whilst sitting on the terrace. There was space too for a small shed.