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CLOUDS OF GREEN in Matcham
WHEN CHRIS AND HEATHER COADY MOVED FROM THEIR DOORALONG FARM SEVEN YEARS AGO TO A ‘LOWER MAINTENANCE’ FIVE-BEDROOM, SEMI-RURAL PROPERTY IN COACHWOOD ROAD MATCHAM, THE THOUGHT OF 38 BUXUS, HAWTHORN AND ELAEAGNUS BUSHES THAT WERE HEDGED INTO A ROUNDED ‘CLOUDS’ EFFECT DID NOT PARTICULARLY EQUATE TO ‘HIGH MAINTENANCE’ AFTER LOOKING AFTER AN 18-HECTARE FARM. ‘They only need trimming four times a year,’ says Heather. ‘The new growth on the elaeagnus provides us with beautiful copper-coloured shoots, and the hawthorn has masses of white flowers in spring. But our favourite tree is the big magnolia that is smothered in flowers every August.’ The garden was originally designed by landscape designer Michael Cooke in 2005, with the green in the hedges complemented by a sprawling blue spruce that softly breaks the symmetry of the hedging. Across the road, a vibrant purple tibouchina successfully jostles for attention within this green landscape. The timber for the very tall, very solid entrance door that welcomes visitors to the house was sourced from a wool store and opens on a pivot hinge. Opposite, a floor-to-ceiling glass window leads the eye through to a pebbled courtyard with a bowl and globe water feature. To the left, stairs lead above the garage to a large family and TV room with a sloping ceiling and high windows. To the right, beyond the front entrance hall, large picture windows stretch across the width of the house encompassing
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the lounge, dining and kitchen areas. Bi-fold doors in the dining area open onto a long veranda overlooking the garden. From both the house and the veranda, the garden creates a peaceful vista that is both a feature and a backdrop to the living areas. At the far end of the living space, the house opens onto a large, covered patio that blends the outdoors with the comfort of indoor living. Beside the patio is an area that Heather refers to as the ‘cat corner’ where her paintings of two favourite pets have pride of place. Picasso-style ‘cat’ cushions on the chairs whimsically complement the style of one of her paintings. Around the corner, Chris’s study showcases an intriguing collection of clay smoking pipes that he personally dug up from the muddy banks of the River Thames at low tide when they lived in the UK early in their marriage. ‘The pipes were often provided to patrons by the local riverside pubs,’ says Chris. ‘The oldest is thought to date back to around 1590, and their long pipestems were pretty fragile, so that may be why so many of them were discarded in the nearby river.’ Opposite the study, there’s a hidden room that Heather laughingly refers to as having the solidity of a ‘safe room’ if you
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