Hale Village Courtyard
The Brief
The clients had relocated from London and had spent the last year renovating their new home, a beautiful victorian terraced house in the heart of Hale Village. The renovation was modern but in keeping with the traditional style of the house and they wanted to continue this style outside. The courtyard is small but perfectly formed, a typical victorian ‘yarden’ in an L shape with access out from the new kitchen sliding doors and French doors from the dining room.
As well as ensuring the deign fitted with the rest of the renovation, the other requirements were to have a relaxed seating area, small dining/drinks area and attractive planting with year round interest. one wall was and old internal wall so this needed attention but the remaining original brick walls were a beautiful feature under all the overgrown ivy etc, so these were the used as the basis for the design.
The Solution
This project was a joy to work on! The courtyard was already small and perfectly formed so after careful consideration of materials and planting the end result was a simple, modern space with a number of beautiful features that all complimented the house renovation beautifully. We clad one wall in cedar and added some stunning bass bulkhead style lighting. The original brick walls were uncovered and repaired/repointed where necessary and new coping stones were added. We used 1.2mx1.2m large format porcelain paving slabs Wirth gravel gaps to create a distinctive grid pattern and classic black metal edging along all planting areas to create a clean modern finish which coordinate with the extension and gate.
We kept the planting simple with a mix of evergreen structural plants such as the “ “ pleached trees and Fatsia Japonica, Sarcococca, Vinca major and Erysiumum Bowles mauve, along with a selection of flowering perennials to compliment through the seasons.
