Urban housing has varied in style throughout the last century. Victorian housing was predominately terraced and the gardens were not given a high priority. With space taken up by coal storage, prams, bikes, and the outside privy, there was little room left for lawns or borders. The up side of this was the emergence of public parks, which are one of the great legacies still enjoyed today. By Edwardian times, the garden had a greater priority and, by the Twenties and Thirties, mass housing included rear gardens. With increased leisure time, the art of gardening was no longer exclusive to the landed gentry and became the new pastime for suburban folk of all classes. Lawns, borders rockeries and ponds were now desirable features.
At the same time, design had been applied to every item in the Thirties household, from fabrics and wallpaper to crockery and clothing. Art nouveau/deco was a strong unifying force and this filtered down to suburban houses. The house featured is owned by a delightful couple with two young children and is a particularly good example of Thirties design. The front features a curved bay window, which was an example of a new, mass-produced technology at that time. Pure geometrical shapes featured in all design at this time – a theme which has been reflected in the use of curved walls in the garden. The windows in the house were originally steel, painted black, contrasting with classic white walls. The choice of black limestone paving and wall copings in the garden, with white rendered walls, reflects this theme.
Originally, the garden had not been landscaped to any great extent, so the ground sloped right down to the back door, leaving little level space for a patio. The first major job was to dig out this area and build a curved seat-height wall, to retain the lawn and create the main sitting area. This involved taking out 36 tons of clay uphill and through a narrow garden gate. Steps were then built up to the lawn and a small gravel area level with the lawn makes another sunny sitting area.
Further steps then curve around the edge of the garden, arriving at an upper gravel area, which takes advantage of extensive views across to Stoke Bishop, as well as enjoying the last of the evening sun. We were able to carve a curved, flat lawn out of the hillside and this then slopes up sharply to the rear, which will mature into a grass bank, filled with wild flowers and bulbs. The slope to this garden was always going to be a challenge and in the Thirties, when it was built, the budget for such a house didn’t stretch to any extensive landscaping. Now, with the addition of this architect-designed garden, the house and garden fit together.
allgardendesigns.co.uk