This garden was created after an extension to the kitchen area of the property had taken up most of an already small plot.

The brief was: "Create an area to entertain guests and eat outside and an extension to our home, but we still want it to feel like a garden and have some pottering to do."

The home inside was a contemporary one so I carried the same feel outside. This garden fell away from the house (a drop of around 2 feet immediately outside the bi-fold doors), a concern when there are toddlers about. This was solved by the use of a glass screen to stop them falling off the edge of the composite deck area, chosen to carry the theme of timber flooring which ran through the ground floor of the house. The steps down either side of the screen allowed easy access onto the travertine paved area, which was made level to accommodate enough furniture for them to use for entertaining.

A rendered wall with windows to allow lighting effects and planting to show through adds the much needed focal point to distract from overlooking properties, achieving a sense of privacy.

The garage nextdoor (which was an eye sore to have as a boundary wall), was partly rendered and partly cladded to bring continuity back to the boundary line, thus helping to show off the wall art which became the backdrop for the travertine clad raised bed, planted with box hedging for a clean look. The lighting added to this bed reflects a lot of light off the light background. A stainless steel water feature was also added to match the steel of the rails and complemented by bamboo planting to hide the fence.