The mock Tudor architecture of the property was the inspiration for the spiral design which looks to the original Tudor ‘viewing mount’, a high point in the garden from which to look down and view the landscape features below.
Exquisite Ladycross stone from a local quarry in Hexham was used to create the formal paving areas around the house and pond; the same stone forms a low curved stone wall that flows along the lawn and disappears neatly into the bank. Reclaimed granite cobbles are set within the adjoining pathways that snake into a spiralled circular seating area from which to view the garden below.
A naturalistic pond nestles against the more formal paving areas adjacent to the house. Natural stone reinforces the bank and provides habitat for insects, amphibians, ferns and mosses. A stone and sleeper bridge takes the viewer across a culvert and onto the wide lawn pathway which leads to the woodland beyond.
The planting scheme uses traditional couplings in the formal areas – Rosa rugosa (Species Rose) rises out of a mass of Alchemilla mollis (Lady’s mantle) the latter of which being native to the Northeast. A hedge of Lavandula ‘Hidcote’ separates this area from the raised vegetable beds beyond. Cotinus coggygria ‘Grace’ has been positioned in the raised planting bed to catch the late winter sun, low growing Rosemary – Rosmarinus ‘Prostratus’ creeps along the top of the dry stone wall and Rodgersia pinnata ‘Superba’ wallows in the shallows of the pond.
