A garden for a Cheltenham villa which underwent total restoration and modernisation throughout 2021-22 and is now transformed back into a grand residence, having seen life in recent years as a residential care home.
With its classically Italianate looks and owners who love Italy, the house was calling out for a garden influenced by Italian design and planting, but we also wanted to convey the clients’ love of English gardens and their lawns and roses. It seemed right too that the juxtaposition of traditional Edwardian architecture with the new contemporary extension should be reflected in the style of the garden.
The new garden journeys from Italy to England and back, blending traditional English and Mediterranean elements. Olive trees in terracotta pots flank the front porch, and a border planted with pencil cypress trees and sun-loving perennials curves round the driveway to a glazed walkway, through which an Italian border can be seen at the back. Here are more cypress trees, an ancient gnarled olive and a water fountain. To the right a rose walk – planted with traditional climbing and shrub roses – leads from the main terrace under three stunning contemporary arches to the top terrace, which catches the last rays of the sun. Across the central expanse of lawn a less formal ‘hydrangea walk’, with a distinctly woodland feel to the planting, balances the rose walk opposite and winds its way to the Italian border.
