‘We were at our wit’s end when a friend recommended Freddy.  Our tiny garden in Rye consisted of parched lawn, practically empty borders and tired shrubs.  He suggested ripping it all out and creating a gravel garden.  We were a little unsure at first, as we love Roses.  No problem.  We had our roses, and we are overjoyed with the result.’ David and Jacob Carpenter-Jones 

‍A small, rectangular, semi-walled garden in the charming town of Rye.  We were asked to create a floriferous, but resilient, low maintenance garden with very informal seating areas.  Roses were to play a leading role.

The garden faces south.  The walls intensified the summer heat.  We suggested removing most of the lawn -retaining a small patch for our clients’ dogs- and replacing it with an exuberant gravel garden traversed by a sinuous path.  As requested, we introduced clusters of roses, which benefit from a plant-specific irrigation system. The rest of the garden -apart from the small lawn- is drought-tolerant and flourishing. Three small ornamental trees lead the eye into the garden and three matching specimens create some dappled shade around the lawn. 

An open plan kitchen a bifold doors did away with the necessity of an outdoor entertaining space. A narrow brick paver threshold separates the borders from inside.