River Garden

Location Welford-on-Avon

Completion Year Estimated 2027

Project 2405

River Garden

Location / Welford-on-Avon

Completion Year / Estimated 2027

COLLABORATION WITH

  • Designer / Tom Wolstenholme
  • Architect / Jeremy Limm Architects
  • Interior designer / Peter Staunton
THE BRIEF

Located in Welford On Avon, this large garden accompanies a full renovation and extension of the main residence. The client’s vision centred on creating a multifunctional outdoor space for hosting, relaxing, and enjoying the surrounding riverside setting. Key requirements included an outdoor kitchen and bar, a garden office, multiple seating zones, and a bespoke water feature — all working in harmony with the modernised house.

 

DESIGN RESPONSE 

The garden was conceived as a sequence of connected outdoor rooms, each with its own purpose and atmosphere, yet unified through a restrained material palette and cohesive planting strategy.

A generous outdoor kitchen and dining pavilion forms the social heart of the garden, providing a sheltered setting for long lunches and evening gatherings. This central space is framed by layered planting and subtle overhead structure, creating a sense of enclosure without severing visual links to the wider garden.

Beyond this, a recessed firepit lounge introduces a more intimate mood. Surrounded by textured borders and structured hedging, this area offers a quieter retreat while maintaining clear sightlines across the garden. A contemporary water feature is positioned as a visual anchor, introducing movement, reflection, and sound that can be enjoyed from multiple viewpoints throughout the space.

Naturalistic planting softens the architectural forms, with ornamental grasses, perennials, and multi-stem trees providing seasonal change and long-term structure. Every element has been shaped to balance function and atmosphere — ensuring the garden supports both lively entertaining and everyday retreat, evolving alongside the renovated home over time.

Tasked with rejuvenating a lifeless courtyard space, our challenge was to introduce vibrancy and natural allure into a compact urban garden.