taming steep terraces

THE BRIEF

This steep Clifton garden was a 3D terracing and structural engineering challenge. The property is a beautiful Georgian merchant’s house near Bristol’s harbour with a walled garden behind. The garden had suffered years of neglect and its crumbling terraced walls were dangerous, unsightly and tumbling down the hillside! My client is passionate about conservation and had purchased the property a few years previously. He had done a stunning job in restoring the house to its original Georgian splendour. The garden now needed the same treatment. My client was keen for us to use a sensitive touch, ensuring we approached the build with an awareness of its history, wherever possible using traditional materials (such as lime mortar) and building methods. This caused a lot of head scratching amongst the structural engineers in particular, who were keen to pour deep concrete foundations to support the new retaining walls. We spent a lot of time researching possible approaches to building these large retaining walls in a gentler manner, but which would also allow them to still be standing for the next generation. A compromise was finally agreed which allowed for some modern materials (a small amount of concrete in the foundations and some blockwork) as long as it was all hidden behind the traditional materials! The other challenge on this build was access - the only access into the garden (other than through the house) was one small back gate which was accessed up a narrow, steep metal staircase. The contractors were therefore limited by the amount of machinery that we could get on-site and a lot of the work had to be done by hand. Despite all these challenges however, the phoenix begin to rise from the ashes! Crumbling walls were replaced by smart, solid traditional stonework and we managed to create a large terrace at the top of the garden to catch the sunshine and provide a lovely space to relax and socialise. We allowed for deep beds all around the terracing in order to introduce a lot of planting and soften off the harshness of all the solid hard landscaping. As I write, we are finishing work on this build and planting is due to take place shortly. I will update with images of the finished garden once it is complete.

THE DESIGN

Aside from dealing with the safety factor of re-building the crumbling walls, I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to improve the garden space for the client and deliver some attractive, useable areas. Despite most of the garden being deep and shady, the top level of the terracing receives a lot of sunshine and so I maximised the size of this area to deliver a generous sized terrace surrounded by soft planting. I also widened and straightened the staircase in order to help encourage people to venture into the garden and up the hill. I also included a large planting area at a lower level to ensure lots of greenery was visible from the kitchen window of the house and to help connect the interior to the exterior. The darkest area at the bottom of the garden was designated as a utility area for a garden shed and storage for bikes.

THE PLANTING

The planting has a vital role to play in this project. It is a crucial foil to the sheer amount of hard landscaping and stone that exist in this garden. We needed greenery, we needed softness, we needed evergreen plants. On the top level around the new terrace I wanted to create a very soft feel - so I used plants such as Ammi majus, Verbena bonariensis and Irises. Along the back wall I used a line of Hydrangea quercifolia to provide elegant structure and Autumn colour. At the lower levels, in sight line of the house, I used evergreen plants such as Fatsia japonica to provide interesting foliage all year round. In the shade of the tree, I used ferns to provide texture and hellebores to provide winter interest.