Garden in the round

A contemporary outdoor room
Pattie Barron5 April 2012
The Weekender

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In an Islington back garden, contemporary meets traditional and, unusually, makes a perfect union. Antique York stone slabs uncovered from the garden are given a crisp, modern edge with slate-grey engineering bricks, the beds are mulched with shards of slate, while streamlined fibreglass containers flank an archway of rustic poles, stained deepest green.

Instead of the predictable trellis screen on either side of the arch, a row of vertical poles, placed at precise intervals, divides the latter half of the garden, without enclosing it.

And a stunning contemporary water sculpture right at the end, perfectly framed by the archway, features strong, swirly motifs that reflect the owner's love of ammonites, the most ancient of shells. The result is a beautifully designed space that, importantly, looks as good from the different floors of the house as it does from the curvy garden seat, backed invitingly by aromatic French lavender.

"I wanted a clean, urban feel," says the delighted owner, Helen Priday, who, as gardening and marketing consultant on the Daily Telegraph House & Garden Fair, had some strong design ideas herself, but not the time to carry them out, hence called in designer Susanne Blair two years ago.

"Before, I'd tried to get the country look in town, but now we have a place in the country, I can do my hollyhocks thing out there. The garden was terribly overgrown, so that it felt about a third of the size it is now. There was a small patch of grass that always needed cutting, and the plants cut out much of the sky.

"Our friends would say, 'Oh how lovely, a wildlife garden!', but nobody ever went out in it, because it was so uninviting. Now we absolutely love it, and we spent much of last summer out there. It has become a room for the whole family to enjoy."

What makes a big difference is that access to the garden is such a breeze. Instead of facing a dark little well and entering the garden by a set of skinny Victorian steps at the left, there is a set of wide, welcomingsteps that lead right up from the French windows.

"Susanne had the bright idea of cladding the new concrete steps, as well as the old Victorian steps, in the same engineering brick, so there is a feeling of continuity. The brick has a slight lustre that gives a modern feeling, without being too much. I was wary of anything fashionable, because it is going to date."

The York stone, dating, like the house, from Georgian times, lay under the original jungle of plants. "The stone has a slightly old-fashioned feel," says Priday. "But I got sentimental about it, feeling that if we removed it, we would detract from the whole house."

Blair's solution was to use the weathered paving stones to make two generous circles that define the living areas of the garden.

"I always try to marry the architecture of the house to the garden," says Blair. "If you look at the back of the terraced row, there are large bow windows as well as arch-shaped windows, so I decided to incorporate those curves. And making simple, large circles has the effect of opening up the space."

To save on the budget, and indulge her client's passion for cobbles, Blair filled in awkward corners with cobbles set into cement, which adds another texture to the mix.

The circles create ample corners around their circumference for planting pockets, one of which - a sunny, sheltered spot - Blair stole, to position a curved, customised bench of galvanised steel. It makes an idyllic corner, with a nearby olive tree and a permanent aromatic cushion, behind it, of tufted French lavender.

Cleverly, the bench doubles as storage, so that Priday can lift the decked lid, and stash potting compost and garden tools within.

Leaving the original archway, along with mature roses Seagull and Blush Noisette, was an easy decision; finding a focal point to set within that arch, and draw the eye right to the back of the garden, was a little harder.

Priday wanted ammonites and water, somehow combined; Blair produced sculptor Sally Price's Portland stone tiles of swirling shells and crescent moons, proving that concrete, when cast in moulds of sand, can be gorgeous.

In a town garden, viewed from the house, lighting is paramount. "Having grown up in Denmark where it is dark for six months of the year, I know that with large French windows such as these, if there is no outdoor lighting, you stand and stare into a depressing darkness," says Blair.

Considered lighting - spotlights on either side of the steps, uplights set into the cobbles of the water sculpture - make the garden equally welcoming, right around the clock.

"Even on the most horrible grey day London can produce, or on a cold winter's night, we have something wonderful to look at," says Blair. "And somehow, you know, we never tire of the view."

Designer Susanne Blair is available for commission on 07778 006432.

Sally Price's work can be viewed on her website, www.boldstonesculpture. co.uk or call her at Boldstone Sculpture (020 8568 9624).

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