SCULPTING THE LANDSCAPE

Charlotte Rowe's elegant design for a country garden in Hampshire fuses modern and traditional styles and captures the Zeitgeist for naturalism with a contemporary edge

- ZIA ALLAWAY

The brief

Wrapping around a traditional 19th-century, brick-and-flint farmhouse, this two-acre garden affords beautiful views over rolling Hampshire countryside. It belongs to a couple with three young children, who bought the property as a weekend retreat and asked Charlotte Rowe to redesign the garden to better suit the family's needs.

When Charlotte and her design director Tomoko Kawauchi first visited the site, it comprised a series of brick terraces close to the house, with lawns sloping down to an orchard and a natural pond. "The brief included a new swimming pool, dining area and space to relax," explains Charlotte, "and because we'd also worked for the clients before and gained their trust, they gave us the freedom to create a design we thought would work.

"After assessing the site, we agreed that the orchard, pond and wildlife sanctuary on the south and western edges of the garden would be left almost untouched, while the terraces and planting around the house were to be completely redesigned."

The design

"Our main focus was reworking the areas close the house, while adding some extra planting to the pond area and sowing a meadow on the lower slopes around the orchard to add further interest. We also took out a few jarring fir trees that were blocking the views of the countryside," says Charlotte.

They made a conscious decision not to break up the site into 'rooms, apart from an enclosed productive plot. This more open design allows free-flowing movement from the house to the pool, and then down the slope to the mown paths that cut through the meadow and orchard to the pond. "The design maximises the views of the surrounding farmland and creates space for the children to run about and explore."