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Working around an existing Design

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 08:03:12 GMT

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Designed originally over a decade before, this fairly typical suburban garden was ready for a refresh and needed some planting input. Existing topiary cubes were retained, and a new perimeter pathway introduced around the lawn. A large new trough style water feature was placed at the rear of the garden and a cozy seating destination was proposed in the location of an old vegetable garden.

The Cor-ten steel pool is teamed with a matching Cor-ten steel firepit feature to add continuity to the design. I have retained all existing specimen trees and introduced a complex mixture of perennials and bulb planting around these to extend the seasonal interest and fill out the tired old borders.

Cor-ten Steel and Planting

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 07:54:04 GMT

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A plain flat garden has been transformed into a series of partially hidden spaces that are interlinked with pathways and lawn. The use of Cor-ten steel walls and bold evergreen hedges further sub-divides the once open garden and provides a wonderful backdrop to the proposed perennial drift planting.

The clients were keen to explore the potential for a large garden building in the design, to be used as a gym/office and overspill seating the obvious spaces was the sunny side of the garden. Rather than placing the building in the top corner, I proposed that it was located towards the middle of the garden and that we developed a central seating and cooking area to entertain around it. This was more accessible from the house and offered the opportunity to develop the rear as a hidden space.

Large Family House and Garden

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 07:47:06 GMT

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Building a new house from scratch is an enormous task which relies on a team of professionals working together to maximize the potential and ensure that nothing is missed when preparing budgets and planning logistics. This amazing new modern house being constructed in Kent was a good example of such a project, working as part of the design team I was engaged early in the process to assist in discharge of certain planning conditions and to help the clients visualize the new house in context. Built on the plot of an existing dethatched property there was already a mature garden and woodland area. We wanted to integrate the modern design into this context and to bridge the space between.

A large front garden was to be developed primarily for car parking and access to the detached garage, being South facing it was a lovely space for a private seating area that was accessed via the 'snug'. Once again it is so important to me that the planting is complimentary to the house and softens the structure, simple mixes of perennials and clipped shrub forms are easy to maintain but deliver interest all year round.

A large outdoor kitchen area was proposed further down the garden with a large free-standing feature wall backdrop protecting it from close proximity buildings next door. The wall extends to provide a suitable surface for the outdoor tv screen and chill out space. The site was gently sloping to the rear and the design takes full advantage of this with wide open steps and planting terraces.

Hidden Lakeside Living

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 07:34:05 GMT

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What a hidden delight inside the M25, I remember first viewing this tired lake at the bottom of a large garden and thinking that it could be a real focal point. The concept was to enhance the natural features of the pond with planting and reinforcement as required, ensure that it was functioning as a sump for excess water and to make it a destination within the wider garden. A timber chalet next to the pond was being renovated and the clients were keen to integrate it with the pond.

I combined a solid stone/.gabion embankment along the weakest margin, with pre planted coir rolls and traditional pond shelves to create a diverse environment to improve biodiversity and protect the surrounding soils from erosion. Planting was chosen to be semi-native and evocative of watersides, large drifts of reeds and perennials compliment the scale of the design and connect with similar planting closer to the house. As with all my designs I am keen to identify seating opportunities and to enhance them with creative design elements, in this instance that included a floating deck island and natural Breeze House gazebo.

The concept design for the garden is elegant and simple for such a large space, my work often involves helping clients to interpret the space in more basic terms to start with. Looking at the overall concept helps break free from small details and problems, these will be dealt with as the design progresses through the detailed stages of masterplanning.

Suburban Style with matching Garden Room

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 22:49:11 GMT

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How to incorporate lots of luxury features into a small suburban space. This wrap around front and rear garden design has been designed for a family that entertains extensively, combining open seating areas with sheltered dining and smaller break out seating spaces. Intricate perennial planting mixes are partnered with bulky screening shrubs to ensure this garden remains private whilst also feeling spacious. Once again, the use of topiary and hedges introduces an element of rhythm and repetition to the design which evokes a sense of luxury.

A stunning hardwood pergola is supported on feature walls to create a sheltered dining space with adjacent outdoor kitchen. These features are to be up lit at night which adds a sense of drama and atmosphere to the garden, combined with lifestyle elements such as the firepit and water to create interest for the owners and visiting guests.

The concept plan shows how materials are used more than once around the house to tie the design together and also the balance of 'hard' to 'soft' landscaping elements.

Luxury Living in a Large Modern Garden

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 22:38:21 GMT

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Commissioned late in the construction phase of this elegant family home in Surrey, my role was to breathe life into the tired old garden that had suffered at the hands of the builders. The pool was being refurbished and it was important to me that we reflected the room allocation from internally to the exterior space. Following an on-site design brief meeting with the clients I was able to develop this epic scheme which took everyone by surprise with its intricacy.

The clients had already commissioned a landscape team to lay a certain amount of paving around the house, it was an afterthought to seek the advice and input of a landscape designer but i was delighted to receive positive feedback and we are now moving forward through the build phases together.

My design for the front garden re-organized the parking layout and softened the building facade, leading the eye and visitors to the front door whilst minimizing the impact of hard landscaping. I am very focused on the importance of front garden design, these areas of the house are most important and have to work hard every day to deliver both visually and practically.

Small Courtyard Garden inspired by Southern France

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 22:22:18 GMT

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The garden I was asked to help with in this instance was already looking elegant and clearly loved by its owners, they wanted me to help with the immediate garden outside what would be a new family room extension and living space. Currently laid to lawn and flat, the space was crying out for a 'design input' to interpret the clients brief for an entertaining space that was influenced by the gardens and landscapes of Southern France. The brief also included provision of outdoor cooking space and a water feature.

The new extension was to be finished with a modest sized patio due to the north facing aspect, which resulted in the building casting shade over the space for the majority of the day. This patio would lead down via brick steps into the new garden area through immersive plantings of Lavender and Rosemary, mature specimen Olive trees and elegant Hydrangeas. A stunning raised Rill water feature was to emphasize the central axis and provide a cooling element to this sunny part of the garden, fed from architectural salvaged decorative spouts mounted onto the proposed retaining wall.

Guidelines on the concept plan show clearly the importance of the garden axes, it is along these focus lines that many of the proposed features lie.

Steep garden with stunning views

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 22:09:06 GMT

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The client brief for this sloping site in North Devon was all about maximizing the expansive views while creating useable spaces that were accessible to the whole family. Having recently purchased this stunning barn conversion and realizing that the adjoining paddocks were an integral part of the property, the clients commissioned me to help make the sloping fields that surrounded the building feel part of the property without detracting from the rural character. It was vitally important as part of the planning approval to provide a landscape scheme that was sensitive to the elevated position and did not become overly dominant in the wider landscape.

The new garden has been created with stone wall terracing that orientates the views and creates practical planting areas wrapped around multiple seating areas, entertainment and lifestyle features, specimen tree planting and bold transitions. I highlight the strong desire lines with mature hedging and billowing masses of perennial planting, groupings are chosen to complement one another and provide all year-round interest which is especially important given the expansive glazed rear elevation of the barn conversion.

Virtual Exhibition #HBRV2020

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 09:28:45 GMT

Come and visit my Virtual Exhibition #hbrv2020

This year has certainly proven to be a challenge for so many different reasons, whilst we have all been spending time at home it has been noticeable the interest in gardens has continued. It has been very hard as a business to see my only public facing activities throughout the year cancelled with no real idea of when they might resume.

Exhibitions were a fantastic opportunity for me as a creative to display my portfolio and speak to prospective clients who were looking for assistance, introducing people to the work of a Landscape Architect and spending time looking at plans for properties and getting people excited about the potential. Thankfully the guys at the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows have developed an exciting online alternative that I am pleased to announce I will be attending this weekend https://homebuildingshow.vfairs.com/en/registration?partnerref=exhibitor?partnerref=exhibitor.

I will be available over the two days to chat with visitors and I have curated an array of useful resources for you to browse at your leisure. Whilst not quite the same i hope that this new way of working will plug the gap and prove inspiring for both visitors and exhibitors.

Please take some time to connect and ask any questions you may have about Landscape Design or the garden, I will be available to chat and plans etc can be emailed and shared between us if required. We are all adjusting to the challenges of COVID-19 but projects are still being delivered and work must go on.

#NoMowMay

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Wed, 13 May 2020 13:42:14 GMT

Encouraging Bees into your garden this May

A big element of many gardens is the lawn, very often the focus of family life and requiring huge amounts of annual maintenance to keep it looking good. Last month Plantlife released a paper that demonstrated just how beneficial not mowing the lawn through the month of May would be for both us and wildlife.

The research was undertaken by citizen scientists that were contributing to Plantlife's Every Flower Counts survey of the garden lawn. The outcome of the work revealed that not only are our lawns home to a huge diversity of wildflowers, but also that some very simple changes in mowing would result in enough nectar for ten times more bees and other pollinators.

Every Flower Counts found that 80% of lawns supported the equivalent of around 400 bees a day from the nectar sugar produced by flowers such as dandelion, white clover and selfheal. But 20% of lawns (dubbed “superlawns”) were found to be supporting 10 times as many – up to 4000 bees a day.

These findings pave the way for new guidelines on how to manage our lawns for wildlife. Dr Dines of Plantlife noted: “In any garden, big or small, we’d now advise keeping two lengths of grass. Leave some patches completely unmown to let taller flowers come into bloom. For the rest of the lawn, you can keep the grass shorter by mowing once every month to a height of 1 or 2 inches. You’ll cut off some flowers when you do mow but they’ll come back quickly; you can even rotate patches around your garden so there are always some areas in flower. For flowers, bees and butterflies there is one lawn ‘haircut’ that really suits: the 'Mohican'. Most should be given a monthly cut to boost short sward plants but there should also ideally be an area set aside for longer grass where floral diversity abounds.”

Although I currently do not have a lawn to mow, I am encouraging you to consider the #NoMowMay recommendations to limit mowing and to watch biodiversity returning to your garden. This may be a particularly fun project for children who are currently home-schooling.

Taking part in Plantlife’s is Every Flower Counts is simple:

1. Simply leave your mower in the shed for No Mow May and let the flowers grow.

2. From 23rd May to 31st May take part in Every Flower Counts by counting the number of flowers in a random square metre of your lawn.

3. Enter your counts on the website and instantly receive your very own Personal Nectar Score, showing how much nectar is being produced by the flowers on your lawn and how many bees it can support.

Reducing my carbon footprint and saving you money

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Wed, 06 May 2020 21:02:20 GMT

A new way of remote working

The Coronavirus pandemic may have changed all our lives forever, not necessarily for the worse in every situation and certainly when I consider some of the changes I had planned for Outside Spaces it has given me a push to implement them sooner. As a keen environmentalist and lover of the natural world I have been increasingly more concerned about the planet and the catastrophic changes we are imposing on it at a rate never seen before.

Whilst these changes are the sum total of a global system that has many parts I have been reviewing my footprint on the planet and trying to think of things that I could do to reduce my effect and to ensure that my legacy is a positive one rather than negative. I am in the enviable position of being asked to work on a wonderful array of projects all around the UK and further afield, but this entails (up until now at least) countless miles of travelling and subsequent fuel consumption and emissions. Sometimes travel is unavoidable, visiting project sites that are complicated and where little site information is available, but I am acutely aware that the modern technological world we live in allows much more remote contact between people.

My Environmental Pledges

My new pledges are to be my 'mantra' for the coming 12 months and beyond, they will inform my decision making and business strategy and form the basis of further changes as the workflow evolves. The Coronavirus pandemic has bought forward my thinking and allowed me to trial the measures I was already considering. It will take time to adjust and I will no doubt struggle at times to adhere, but there is a will now and a framework.

It has been amazing to read about the way the climate and biodiversity has reacted to the slow down in the global economy, the lack of fossil fuel pollution and the limitations in local authority resources. Roadside verges are emerging as biodiversity 'hot spots' (https://plantlife.love-wildflowers.org.uk/roadvergecampaign), air quality is improving and wildlife is expanding its geographic spread. Help me to do my little bit and consider going 'remote' and saving money too.

Why engage a Landscape Designer

james@designscapeuk.com (James Brunton-Smith) — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:59:06 GMT

Do we really need to pay for more design work?

When you are financially committed to a self build project or major house renovation and the budget is being stretched from the outset, there is a very strong temptation to sideline the landscaping in favor of the 'dream' bathroom or to insulate yourself from potential problems later in the build and protect the 'contingency fund'. I have been working with these type of clients for nearly 20 years now and have seen the pitfalls of not considering landscaping early on, and also the benefits of projects that remained committed to a full landscape scheme. Here are some of the most important points:

Covid-19 & Working from Home

Wed, 06 May 2020 12:29:35 GMT

Keeping your project moving forward despite 'Lockdown'

We are all adjusting to a different way of working during the global Coronavirus pandemic, juggling the pressures of the family and home-schooling, meeting work deadlines and maintaining our mental and physical health. Many of my clients are also managing complex self-build projects, having to delay plans for their dream house or struggling to justify the expense of the extension they had earmarked for this summer.

We all hope that life will at some point return to some degree of normality. I for one am in the process of moving house and would love to focus on the changes I have proposed to make it our 'dream' family home, but should I be spending money on it? Should I allow myself to get excited? When will 'lockdown' end and if it does will my job still be secure?

I cannot answer any of these questions directly but I can reassure you that there is no reason to delay progress on your project whilst we remain confined in our houses. I have been successfully working remotely with a great many existing and new clients over the last 6 weeks, we have been able to communicate via online means, I have been able to look around gardens virtually and download important planning drawings and site information from online. And we have been able to collaborate with other professionals working on projects to minimise the disruption to project timelines.

When reviewing the last few weeks of interactions and looking at the design board, it is really exciting to note that plans have been produced faster than before, clients have felt more engaged in the design process and clients have made savings on fees due to the elimination of 'on-site' meetings.