Our clients were keen to extend their house with the addition of a sun room to include an office space and relaxing zone where they can enjoy their fully redesigned back garden or find some quiet space for working. The shape of the plot is such that the garden is wide, extending across the back of the existing house but does not extend very far away from the house. Our creative design has made the most of that outside space whilst simultaneously unifying the house with the garden and also managing to improve privacy from neighbouring eyes…
We looked carefully at how we could connect the house with the garden given the relatively narrow plot, the new extension and where the sun would be at different times of the day. Not only thinking about the views, but also the access from the lobby out into the garden, the paths to the entertaining space and around the garden and the access from the office space, all to give a sense of flow between the inside rooms and the outside rooms.
Our clients value the enhanced understanding that a 3D view of our designs can give and that ‘realistic’ feeling of what a particular structure or space will feel like once built. That’s why we take the time to produce these, often also indicating planting to soften the harder structures and give a sense of what it will be like.
We successfully secured planning permission for the extension, something that we do regularly for our clients. Forstall was a relatively straightforward permission to obtain, although as a side extension required full planning as opposed to a certificate of lawful development. In the end however, the clients decided that the proposed garden design made such better use of the space, that the additional extension cost was unnecessary and so they decided to proceed with the garden on its own. We tweaked the design a little to account for the change and make best use of the extra space in the garden.
Phil Samways of Katsura Gardens Ltd led the project, I stayed involved all the way through to ensure the design intent was maintained as construction and planting progress. I tend to do my own plant setting out, and visit every week during construction and at each key stage. I also like to get hands-on on the timber creations, in particular the benches (as in this case) and pergola frames.
