‘Freddy has a wonderful eye for scale and colour and an empathy that means that he has been a pleasure to work with. Our garden is one of my passions and we have created it over 28 years. We needed someone to come in with a fresh eye and help us pull the whole thing together. The terrace that Freddy designed is perfect. As requested, it is in keeping with the rest of the garden and looks as if it has been there forever: forming the nucleus of the garden which was missing before. It has been a very happy leap forward for a much-loved garden.’ Tizy Wellesley Wesley

A beautiful former rectory set in extensive gardens.  It was laid out and tended by our client, a passionate gardener.  We were asked to review the garden, indicating possible enhancements and improvements.  Our principal task was to introduce an outdoor dining area and formal borders beside the property, creating an interface between house and garden. We were asked to ensure that new elements blended seamlessly into the existing layout and consider a focal point for the existing garden axis.

A new formal layout brings the garden up to the house and blends into the existing garden aesthetic.  It provides ample planting areas, divided by axial and cross-axial paths in traditional brick and gravel.  Two perennial beds and façade borders, with offset evergreen spheres and directional hedging blocks are designed to feel traditional, but with a contemporary twist.  

The turf bank and pinched set of steps were replaced by a painted blockwork wall, faced with evergreen hedging. The latter has now matured to conceal the wall. An imposing set of reclaimed York Stone steps frame the house from the garden and are proportionally in keeping with the lawn and handsome borders beyond. Two urns -sourced by our clients- complete the mise en scene.

The terrace area is laid with reclaimed York Stone and surrounded by multi-stem trees. The random nature of their positioning is sympathetic to the surrounding woodland and suggests a more timeless, organic quality to the new layout.  

Existing double borders have been formally redefined with mild steel edging, and planting reviewed.  The garden axis is accentuated by a bespoke, ornamental Regency Gothic gate the echoes the property’s double doors leading into the garden. 

We continue to work with our clients.  We have recently introduced a more formal entrance and forecourt.  We are now in the process of suggesting a new layout for the existing, boggy woodland garden. 

The garden appeared in the January 2025 edition of The English Garden and was selected as the East Anglian winner of ‘The Nation’s Favourite Gardens’.  It is open as part of the National Gardens Scheme.