Long family garden, Balham
A Victorian terraced house, with a particularly long and narrow garden, extending beyond thirty meters. The garden has been unchanged for many years, with large shrubs and overgrown climbers making it feel dark and dank, not helped by its north-west orientation.
The design breaks the garden into four areas, with a light limestone terrace leading off the house, and returning down the side of the house to a ‘secret’ inner courtyard. The lawn is broken up with two pinch points to balance the long length, with a lozenge-shaped brick terrace beyond, in a herringbone pattern. This terrace is positioned to catch as much sun as possible for long summer lunches.
The pleached trees act as a backdrop and divider, partially obscuring the utility and children’s play area at the back of the garden, which incorporates a productive kitchen garden. The surface in this area is a rubberised mulch, in a natural gravel colour. This ensures a safe and clean play area, whilst retaining the country garden aesthetic requested by the client.