The Deceptively Large Garden
Most gardens behind terraced houses follow a similar rectangular pattern, but this garden, which sits behind a house situated on a bend in the road, fans out, giving generous space for a lawn and patio and a children’s play area. It backs onto a high wall from a nearby commercial courtyard giving ample space to grow climbers.
Patrick says: Although my mother is a very keen gardener, gardening was something I wasn’t hugely interested in until we bought this house in 2009.
Because our house sits on a bend in the road, the garden fans out around the back of the house and is about twice the size of most of the other gardens on our street. It’s a huge feature of the house and when we moved in we could see its potential and knew we’d have to do it justice.
We took what was a quite overgrown garden with good bones and after over 10 years we now have a space that works perfectly for us.
We have divided it up into four clear areas, a herb garden by the kitchen, a lawned area with borders and a central pear tree (one of the few elements of the original garden that we kept), a patio area and a children’s play area. Our planting has been a case of trial and error and we’ve learnt to garden through mistakes like most people. We’re very fortunate to have a high wall at the back of the garden which means we aren’t overlooked and it also reflects light and warmth. When we moved in it was covered with ivy which looked great but needed endless cutting back.
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Last year the building in the courtyard behind us was redeveloped and this meant that the wall had to be reinforced; the ivy had to come down and the bricks had to be re-pointed. The results were a revelation. Now the garden has a much more Mediterranean feel and the ivy has been replaced by climbing roses.
We’ve come to realise how privileged we are to have this space and gardening has become a new love. It’s creative and the best way to relax. We’re relatively young to be keen gardeners and most of my friends haven’t caught the gardening bug yet – they don’t know what they’re missing.
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