THE BREIF

To create a landscape strategy for a new contemporary home within a sensitive Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), responding to planning constraints while embedding the building into its woodland setting. The garden needed to balance architectural clarity with ecological responsibility, strengthening the relationship between house and landscape without dominating its surroundings.

DESIGN RESPONSE

The design treats the landscape as a continuation of the surrounding woodland rather than a decorative garden. The building is set within a loose framework of native planting, glades and informal clearings that echo the structure of the existing forest edge.

Hard surfaces are kept minimal and integrated into the landform, allowing routes and spaces to feel discovered rather than imposed. Planting is naturalistic and layered, drawing on species suited to woodland margins and open meadow clearings to support biodiversity and seasonal change.

Rather than defining a traditional garden boundary, the design allows the architecture to sit quietly within its setting. The result is a landscape that feels both intentional and restrained — one that protects the wider ecology while giving the home a sense of place within its environment.