This garden, made in a conservation area in south east London, has a simple geometric layout to open up the garden for a couple and their young children to enjoy. Previously an overgrown and practically unusable space full of odd level changes and sunken areas, the garden is now a calm and predominately green space with a strong evergreen structure to hold it through the winter. In a conscious effort to create a garden with a low carbon footprint, we chose a Kentish ragstone, quarried just 30 miles from the site. The trees, hedges and herbaceous perennials were all sourced from nurseries within a 50-mile radius and using UK grown stock. Much of the previous garden, which included a large expanse of concrete block paving and brick walls to create sunken spaces, were left in-situ, to minimise waste.

Our design embraces a simple layout with a level change from the house to the garden taken up by wide ragstone steps and hedge plinths made of Japanese holly on either side. Just outside the kitchen window, a multistemmed Amelanchier lamarckii tree grows from one of the volumes. Clipped yew hugs the garden edge on three sides creating a continuous solid line to the borrowed gardens beyond. Three generous herbaceous beds are filled with perennials and ornamental grasses. The far bed behind the lawn provides a mid-level semi-transparent screen to a limestone gravel space intended for lounge seating where this area catches filtered afternoon sun through neighbouring trees.