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New photographs from 2011
In August 2011 Kate's garden was featured in the Sunday Times home and garden supplement. She very kindly insisted that her garden designer be at her side for the photos (by Andrea Jones) and interview. Read more here...
The best-selling author, Kate Atkinson MBE, contacted me with the proposal that I should turn her small (7 metres by 15 metres), suburban back garden into something resembling Sissinghurst. On her wish-list were fountains of fragrant old English roses, effervescent herbaceous borders, somewhere to write, accommodation for wildlife including a bird table and wildlife pond, a compost heap, herbs, soft fruit and vegetables, hidden corners, paths with views, clematis-clad arbours and dozens and dozens of sweet peas. So, not much, really.
Writing Den
I used as a starting point Kate's desire for a warm place to write and settled on an ornate summerhouse with gothic-style windows. The building is well insulated and has a small heater operated by remote control from the house. As the garden is viewed from three floors, I used sedum on the roof to soften the view and to help prevent the summerhouse dominating the space. Generous French doors open out onto a pebble mosaic of the White Rose of York, a work of art by Joel Baker. Diagonally across from the summerhouse is a small ground-level wildlife pool with water lilies and marginal planting.
This tiny garden provides four seating areas - two church pews, a bench, and a small bistro table and chairs in the sunniest part of the garden. However, due to the height of the planting, they are not all visible from one another. The paths and seating areas are laid with black limestone edged with stone setts and tramlines of inlaid pebbles which all lead to the mosaic centrepiece. The cathedral bird house enjoys its own sedum roof using the leftovers from the summerhouse and a small patio glasshouse is home to tomatoes and seedlings.
The largely herbaceous planting is designed to fill as much of the year as possible with form and colour. Ferns, Primulas and Pulmonaria combine in the shady end of the garden to give good foliage and colour while Holly Hocks, Calamintha and a peach tree are among many species providing colour, fragrance and delicious fruit at the other.
Now that the garden is complete, I asked Kate for her verdict:
What I wanted was Le Petit Trianon in a small back suburban Edinburgh garden. Failing Le Petit Trianon I was prepared to settle for Sissinghurst. Carolyn treated neither of these desires as ridiculous - the mark of someone who understands a good relationship between client and designer! (I think secretly she also wanted to recreate Sissinghurst in a small suburban Edinburgh back garden.) In reality my brief was simple, a pretty garden that would tempt me outside even on the dankest Edinburgh day, a garden that would always seem interesting and lift the spirits. I'm pleased to say that I got all of this. What I didn't contemplate - and what has been one of the great charms of this garden - is that it would continue to evolve, not just in its growing seasons but in the way that I use and enjoy it. So next year le Petit Trianon...