Reflections: A Waterside Garden

As somebody with a strong local reputation for top quality workmanship and an eye for original designs, Paul Greenyer of Insideout Home and Garden Improvements was asked to to remodel this steeply sloping waterside garden. Paul's brief was to create a space that is usable, relaxing, aesthetically pleasing, interesting and so that in keeping with with the property itself.

Paul has a background in engineering and an imagination akin to no other and the resulting design is testament to his unique skills set.

Paul's first challenge was to sell his idea to his client. It's not always easy to explain a complicated design and a 2D plan of a steeply inclined plot is particularly difficult for the uninitiated to visualise.

Together with David Negus, The 3D Gardener, Paul committed some ideas to paper that would make the most of the site's interesting topography. Organic curves hug the contours of the existing pond and embrace the sloping garden. Woodland style planting embeds the garden into the wider landscape and spacious recreational areas close to the house entice visitors into the garden. David's 3D renders enabled the clients to visualise the transformation. And then the real fun and games began....

This complex design posed many conundrums for the landscapers. Not least because they are a small team of skilled artisans who take pride in getting things right. Being on sloping ground beside a large pond involved careful engineering to ensure that the garden would be stable.

Then of course, there were the practicalities of moving heavy and unwieldy landscaping materials around the tricky terrain.

The project took several months to complete, during which time the team were working in all kinds of weather conditions. From heatwaves to downpours, sharp frosts to strong winds, all of which posed a different set of challenges.

In short, this project proved to be demanding, arduous, back-breaking and incredibly rewarding.

The success of the project is best summed up by the client's own testimony:

The interaction with our garden sometimes feels a little surreal, as it is only looking back on the historical photos that we appreciate the transformation from a caterpillar to stupendous butterfly. The usage and interaction with the garden space has increased immeasurably and the enjoyment derived from it has been uplifting.

The views over the lake, where the predominant reason for the purchase of the house seventeen years ago, and it has been a frustration of ours that during the time the garden was regarded as a dank dark, and dangerous environment, due to the slippery clay and unscalable slopes. The opportunity to enjoy the lake was curtailed further by the crumbling concrete and rapacious bramble growth.

Fortunately after seventeen years we decided to undertake the garden project, and what a project it was.

The designs we had done promised a lot, but it was difficult to mentally overlay the theoretical pictures over the quagmire that was our garden.

The scale and ramifications of executing the designs cannot be overstated, I still look back on the day of watching a mini digger lashed to a 5 tonne digger, extricating rocks, with four individuals with crowbars trying to gain leverage, whilst one was in the lake in waders, with all items and people covered in an inescapable patina of clay.

The garden evolved over time, with the goal being slowly glimpsed throughout the project, the deployment of the decking created a brand new area of the garden, which hadn't been accessible previously. This created a veritable oasis which captures the morning sun, but is completely secluded due to the wonderful reeds, this created a special place that allows me to enjoy a morning coffee, whilst observing the evolving nature around me, be this herons, dragonflies, carp, butterflies or kingfishers. Everyday creates brand new memories, in a wonderfully changing environment of our own.

The rock steps made the decking accessible, these were the elements that probably teased the most at the eventual creation, as the sheer scale and impact that these magnificent rocks had, was gently consumed into the garden. This was potentially the first time we realised the sheer scale of our garden from a slippy grass covered lawn that felt constrained, to a magnificent space that consumed ten tonnes of rock without a thought.

This expansion of space continued with the old compost pile, being transformed into the stumpery and whiskey deck, this has become one of my favourite spaces, due to it being a cooler space with phenomenal views over the lake, all framed by the prehistoric treen ferns. This created something that I could not in my wildest dreams have envisaged but has now become the space, which I use as my outside office ( and nobody believes my background is real)

I have to comment on the corten, as this was magnificent to see implemented, to see flat sheets of rusty steel create gentle curves whilst providing structural integrity was an amazing engineering feat, the fact that there are ten separate layers between the decking and the house back door merely indicates at the slope that we previously had to scale. The time taken and the amount of soil consumed merely hinted at the scale of the engineering behind the drainage supporting piles, concrete to show these elegant pieces of metal �and their sympathetic colours.

The pergola was a huge 6m*4m room that we feared would be too large for the garden, again how mistaken we were, this has become the new family dining room and children's relaxation space, that has been used every day since the garden has been completed, come rain or shine. The views �and atmosphere on rainy days over the garden and lake are tranquil in the extreme.

We could not have envisaged the impact on the family of this transformational space, when we first started, in fact we did not appreciate the space at all as it was not truly utilised. Since the garden has been redeveloped / reengineered, it has become the heart of the home, with the family spending most of the time outside, on the deck enjoying the sun, sleeping in the hammock, cooking on the bbq or relaxing in the pergola. The desire we had when we bought the house, has been made reality and more.