SENSE OF PLACE A modern home sits comfortably in the countryside thanks to

SENSE OF PLACE

This edgy, modern house fits perfectly into an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty thanks to an inspired garden design

WORDS VANESSA BERRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE MAJERUS

The table on the lower level of the courtyard is a lovely spot for breakfast, accompanied by the sound of the water flowing from the spouts into the canal

The two sunken ponds with planting that includes Paeonia ‘Karl Rosenfield’, Astrantia major ‘Shaggy’, Alchemilla mollis, Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’ and Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’

Location, location, location’ is every estate agent’s mantra. Jane and Peter Gretton took this to heart when they first saw an undistinguished house high up on the edge of the Chilterns, in an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. ‘We knew we’d found our ideal place but not our dream home,’ says

Jane. So they knocked down the existing house, building in its stead a splendidly angular, larger modern home. Its exterior walls are faced with battens and with flint that references the chalk landscape and the area’s vernacular architecture.

Jane and Peter worked with designer Charlotte

Rowe; her long experience of designing country house gardens with a contemporary touch was perfect for the project. ‘Apart from knowing we wanted eating areas to catch the sun at different times of day, we were a bit at sea,’ says Jane. Charlotte quickly recognised what was needed: ‘The key was to soften a modern building with a planting scheme that would integrate it seamlessly into the traditional chalk upland.’

‘Fortunately,’ explains Jane, ‘we were able to buy a neighbouring tract of land, so we could build the house at the centre of what had become a five-acre site.’ Spoil from the building work was used to create subtle undulations through the garden, which hide the house from a nearby footpath. Beyond one strip of lawn are long grass and wildflower meadows that, together with the undulations, connect the garden with the surrounding countryside.

Formal planting is concentrated in three main areas: a central courtyard; deep borders encircling the glass-sided study and drawing room, and a gravel garden bordering the lawn on the house’s west side.

‘The courtyard garden is like a hortus conclusus,’ says Jane. The sound of water, cool green planting and a dark grey wall covered with espaliered fruit trees all evoke an old cloister garden. The Grettons like the way the different levels add an extra dimension to the courtyard, along with three areas of water: a canal lined by three Cornus mas, with waterfall spouts, and two still pools in the centre of the herbaceous planting. The hard landscaping is poured polished concrete, similar in tone to the floor of the kitchen that runs between the courtyard and gravel garden. The trees give shade and structure: two Cercidiphyllum japonicum on lightly gravelled terraces, and three multi-stemmed Amelanchier lamarckii surrounded by rich herbaceous planting.

There are subtle shades in the colour scheme, with paler Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Alba’ and Gillenia trifoliata away from the house, and dark, jewel-like colours in the borders near the front door and spreading out around the south end of the house. Ruby red peonies, such as ‘Karl Rosenfield’, and sapphire blue Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’, peaking in June, are planted with grasses Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ and Anemanthele lessoniana for contrast and movement. Balls of Taxus baccata and Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’ give definition to the planting in the courtyard.

Pittosporum balls reappear again in the very different west-facing gravel garden, an understated link with the courtyard planting. Here, droughttolerant and sun-loving plants sprawl through the gravel, with height given by Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’ and Sisyrinchium bellum amid groundcover plants such as Erigeron karvianiskanus, while evergreen thymes provide year-round interest.

The Grettons are thrilled with what has been achieved. ‘When I’m working from home in my study,’ says Peter, ‘I feel as if I am sitting in the middle of the garden.’ &

GARDENS

“THE KEY WAS TO SOFTEN A MODERN BUILDING WITH PLANTING THAT WOULD INTEGRATE IT INTO A TRADITIONAL ENGLISH LANDSCAPE” CHARLOTTE ROWE

The canal is flanked by multi-stemmed Cornelian cherry trees – Cornusmas – and Anemanthele lessoniana

GARDEN GUIDE

SPECIAL FEATURES In the courtyard: three multi-stemmed Cornus mas, three multistemmed Amelanchierlamarckii and two Cercidiphyllumjaponicum, surrounded by herbaceous perennial planting and structural balls of Taxusbaccataand Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’. Three water features and poured polished concrete hard landscaping. In the gravel garden: structural balls of Ilexcrenataand Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’, and a range of dry-tolerant herbaceous perennials and evergreens. ORIENTATION Courtyard faces east; the gravel garden faces west. SOIL Chilterns chalk.

HOW TO INCORPORATE A WATER FEATURE

Expert tips to help you successfully include water into your garden design

■ If you’re adding a water feature into an existing garden, consider changing/moving the planting or the hard landscaping so that it feels integral. Water is like another material in the garden and should be treated with respect, says Charlotte. It should add value to the space rather than being a bolted-on extra. ■ Think about whether you want the water feature primarily for reflections, for movement, or for the sound of water. In this garden, there are pools for both sound and reflective stillness. If a reflective surface is what you want, do you want the water to reflect the hard landscaping or the planting? ■ You also need to decide whether you want a pond for wildlife, a rill for a dramatic statement through the centre of the garden, or a canal to divide up different areas. A tiny cascade, tucked against a wall in a small town garden, will add movement, sound and interest.

A swing chair offers views out over the countryside and back into the courtyard. In the foreground is Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’

Formality is kept close to the house. This single area of lawn is allowed to bleed off into wilder areas of grass that in turn run out into the countryside The garden has several protected oak trees that frame the different vistas

This is the view across the top of the courtyard towards Peter’s glass-sided study at the corner of the house