Luxury Family Garden with Breeze House

This stunning garden was part of the new build of a luxury home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. The original garden was open but steeply sloping towards the house which created the opportuity to build a sunken enclosed patio around the house. 

Porcelain clad retaining walls, wide welcoming limestone steps and limestone paving all match beautifully with the warm brick of the house. Although much of the house feels contemporary the choice of materials: acid etched limestone, smooth pale porcelain, yellow granite setts, and multi-tonal resin bound gravel worked together to create a garden that felt comfortably traditional but  with a modern simplicity to it. 

In the sunken patio area informal lounge seating underneath a sun awning is next to a beautiful solid granite water bowl, which creates the sound of bubbling water providing interest and tranqulity, particularly on warm sunny days. Further round on the patio space for a large dining table and chairs is wrapped around by lush planting at patio level as well as taller planting at the top of the retaining wall.

A broad flight of limesone steps leads up into the garden and a large lawn. We also added a stunning Breeze House into one corner of the garden, set onto narrow limestone cobbles and reached via a stepping stone path. This little area is a haven of quiet and peaceful tranquility and a cooler spot to sit relax and read a book on a warm sunny day or a space for socialising with family and friends.

We used extensive hedging to create a feel of instant maturity in the garden and to provide an evergreen backdrop to colourful evergreen and perennial planting. It’s the perfect peaceful and sociable garden and if we’re honest it’s hard to leave once you’ve sat down!