Garden Design in Wiltshire, UK
Location:
Brook House, Wiltshire, UK
Type:
Residential Garden Design
Scope:
Comprehensive garden and landscape design
A contemporary garden design in Wiltshire, extending from the house into a Mediterranean-style gravel garden within a south-facing rural setting. View garden design services.
Project Brief
The brief was for a garden for a family home in Wiltshire, centred around outdoor dining and entertaining within a south-facing rural setting.
A series of connected spaces were required, including areas for gathering, quieter seating, and a structure to support movement through the garden. The lower third of the garden is prone to seasonal flooding.
Design Approach
This garden design in Wiltshire extends from the house onto a Mediterranean-style gravel garden, suited to the south-facing rural setting. Specimen trees, shrubs and perennial planting surround a paved terrace for alfresco dining, creating a sense of privacy.
Gravel walkways pass beneath timber arches, guiding movement through the garden. These black-stained, angular forms work to link the upper, middle and lower garden together and sit as sculptural elements within the landscape.
Behind high beech hedging, narrow paths weave through late summer planting to a more secluded seating area on the western edge of the site.
The lower area of the garden responds to seasonal flooding with a naturalistic meadow planting using a flood-tolerant meadow seed mix.
Planting Design
Planting is organised across distinct areas of the garden, each with its own character.
The gravel garden draws on a restrained, Mediterranean-influenced palette, combining Olea europaea, lavender, nepeta, Perovskia and Santolina with grasses and structural forms, informally set within the gravel to create a dry, naturalistic planting scheme.
Within the middle garden, evergreen structure is combined with Olea europaea and a silvery, yellow-toned planting palette. Euphorbia, Eryngium and Achillea provide architectural form and seasonal interest, with Perovskia, Oenothera and other perennials adding movement and softness. The planting is naturalistic in character, with a clear seasonal structure.
The south garden, enclosed by a high beech hedge, is defined by strong vertical structure and a warm, expressive palette with late-season interest extending from summer into autumn. Height is provided by species such as Stipa gigantea, Salvia gigantea and Angelica gigas, while rich seasonal colour comes from planting such as Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’ and Crocosmia ‘Emily McKenzie’, introducing burnt orange and gold through the border. Together, these elements create a garden with sustained seasonal interest.
A framework of trees such as Amelanchier, Malus and Prunus provides structure and continuity throughout the garden.