Scale & Stone

Somewhere in the back of every landscaper’s head there’s a dream job. This was that one. A large, odd-shaped back garden that had been done about eight years earlier and was starting to look tired. The brief was to modernise everything, keep it low maintenance, and make sure it never needed doing again, without going overly modern and losing the character of the house.

The catch was the koi. There was an existing pond in completely the wrong spot, sat in direct sunlight, and it needed moving before anything else could happen. The new one had to be up and running by a set date so the fish could be transferred across safely. So while most jobs start with groundwork, this one started with fish logistics. Everything else queued up behind the pond: built-in BBQ and pizza oven area, resin entrances, artificial grass, a sunken hot tub, and a bespoke pergola with a genuine thatched roof.

We used different sized rocks throughout to create a hard, textured landscape, keeping lighter tones in line with the K-render on the house and going darker with anthracite resin and charcoal high kerbs to pick up the window frames. A black line border between the resin and kerbs on the lower level ties the whole thing together, and the close board fencing and trellis got painted black to match. The design got reworked at least three times during the build as new ideas came together on site.

Everyone who sees it stops and stares. Family, neighbours, friends, even the delivery drivers.