April 13, 2019
At Dewlands Garden Design, we take pride in our ability to creatively envision projects with a clear outcome, delivering them effectively for our clients. Like all the best professionals, we take inspiration from the world around us. There are some glorious examples of gardens in Kent and Sussex which have stirred us to create beautiful projects and inspired aspects of our design. Here are some amazing gardens that we have taken inspiration from and thoroughly recommend you visit.
Great Dixter
Great Dixter was once the home to the inspirational gardener Christopher Lloyd. The gardens are well known for their ambitious and wild planting, providing a mish-mash of colour that punctuates the almost voluptuous borders, particularly during spring and summer. We love how the boundaries are lined with tall poplars and the way the brickwork forms a flowing river through the grass, providing a small amount of structure to the wild, plantsman garden.
Sissinghurst
Many people have small– or medium-sized gardens which can perhaps be broken up into two or three outdoor rooms, if you’re lucky. What we love so much about Sissinghurst is that the large sprawling estate has been systematically split up into a multitude of rooms, with each room being defined by a different feature. These rooms are broken up uniformly, but are also linked together masterfully with arches and pathways, giving the whole place a fluidity that’s hard to come by.
Denmans
Denmans in West Sussex was created by the well-known garden designer John Brookes, who lived there in the renovated stable block until his death in March 2018. His book “Room Outside” has been an inspiration to many garden designers, including us, introducing the concept of the garden as a usable extension of the home. Our founder, Eugene Hill, studied under Duncan Heather, who worked in Mr Brookes’ practice for a number of years, helping him to become a more commercial designer. “My kind of design – geometry leading to geometry – is very John Brookes. If you think about how on a golf course, you cut grass to get different textures on the fairway and the rough and the green, when you bring that kind of style into the structures of your garden, that’s John Brookes’ style; it creates shapes and forms that add interest to the garden,” comments Eugene.
Pashley Manor Gardens
Pashley Manor Gardens in East Sussex are quite natural looking, conforming with the innate curves of the landscape, especially beyond the immediate house with its lake and long views. They have created lovely broad axes – a feature quite typical of French gardens – creating wide views along symmetrical planes with a clear foreground, middle-ground and background. These views often focus on a sculpture or statue in the distance, creating a focal point. At Pashley, it’s all about how the eye is drawn out around the huge garden, giving you a real bang as you step outside.
Sheffield Park
Sheffield park, near Haywards Heath in East Sussex, is a fantastic garden to gaze upon, especially during the autumn and spring months. The garden designers have really thought about the structure of the planting, particularly the large trees and the shrubbery, creating that wow factor. We particularly love the spring rhododendrons that come into flower creating bold, beautiful splashes of colour.
Sussex Prairie Garden
A wonderful open–expanse garden, inspired by the prairies of the American grassland. Think cone flowers, black-eyed Susan and echinacea – tall, beautiful meadow flowers which bring an aspect of the American plains to the Sussex countryside.
We love designing gardens, and our inspiration comes from a variety of sources. If you’re keen on having your garden redesigned, we fully encourage you to get out and explore the amazing gardens of Kent and Sussex to give you ideas for your perfect outdoor space.
