Owen Clutton Gardens

The biggest project we have ever undertaken and which still awaits more work:

A complete garden redevelopment in Haywards Heath, West Sussex:

Approximately 10 years ago, I carried out an extensive garden development for these clients in Robertsbridge, East Sussex. They moved to a much larger house in Haywards Heath in Autumn 2006 and we started there shortly after that.

The work consisted of extensive clearance to start with. We could not burn on site, so heavy duty chipping equipment was brought in. Most existing features were removed, including all lawns and beds. The whole garden had to be re-fenced and the ancient shed replaced.

We have made separate areas of the garden: a Meditteranean garden, kitchen garden, main lawn with central raised pond and well enclosures, various steps and paths, a wildlife area with a pond and we await completion of works by builders so we can carry on with the front garden.

It is difficult to portray such a vast job in a series of pictures, so the different areas of the garden are shown in sequence.

At the last minute, when we thought we had nearly finished and were planting roses around the raised pond, we lifted what we thought was a piece of hardcore and discovered a twenty five feet deep well there, which is why it appears only in later photographs. As we had taken all sorts of heavy machinery across precisely that piece of ground, we were lucky not to have found it sooner.

The photograph below right shows the front garden awaiting work by builders so we can build a garden around it. There will be completely altered paving to match the other paving, central steps, walls to match the rest, a redesigned driveway and a cottage garden.

Looking down the garden towards the raised pond. This is constructed from reinforced concrete blocks clad with broken stone and with a rubber liner inside. An electric cable runs under the patio and ground then up through the wall, under the coping and into the sunken service chamber which is behind the pond and visible in some photographs. This houses the filtration system with pipes running up over the wall and down into the pond wherein lies the pump, a central water feature and lights.

Nearly all of the paving is 'fossil mint' Indian sandstone which was chosen to match the existing paving around the swimming pool.

Looking towards the top corner of the garden and the swimming pool house which is currently hidden behind willow hurdles.

The wildlife pond and rough area of the garden. The rocks were recycled from elsewhere in the garden, as were the 'crazy' York paving slabs used to set steps down to each end of this area. There is a lined bog garden adjacent to the pond.

In my design for the garden, we wanted to get away from straight lines. The circular pond demanded that steps etc. were made to match its curves, hence the sequence of curved paving and curved steps. We have replaced all of the steps which were in the garden already, as these were too small and therefore dangerous. The steps to the left in the second picture replaced the ones in the first picture.

The clients wanted to create something unusual and striking, hence their idea of the Meditteranean garden. The bamboo Phyllostachy aurea has been used as a back drop. Spectacular specimen plants are set into the ground in strategic places and a York stone path curves around them. The biggest plants which are the two Trachycarpus fortunei had to be lifted onto the area by machine.

Twenty tons of Cotswold chippings cover the landscape fabric in this area and the feature rocks are Purbeck stone. A leaky pipe watering system runs throughout, indeed in various other parts of the garden as well. There are lights in various places both in this garden and around the pond.

Trellises and arches of a similar construction to some we have constructed in other gardens in this portfolio have been erected to hide aspects of the kitchen garden and shed. The pitch of the arches was deliberately made to match the shed.

There is nothing remaining of the old kitchen garden except one cherry tree.

The plinths for the water butts are made to match the rest of the walling; there is one by the shed as well. Grey guttering and downpipes were used on the shed to try to blend these unsightly necessities in with the green of the shed. It works well. A raised area of paving has been laid near to the greenhouse to provide more space for pots and a ramp now links the swimming pool surround with the path to the shed.

The discovery of the well meant that we had to adapt the design for this unexpected change. Fortunately its centre lies almost exactly in line with the centre of the pond, i.e. with the line between these two points running parallel to the house. The well is raised with two concrete rings, clad similarly to the pond, rendered and then painted on the inside and topped with a specially constructed safety grid. We have planted suitable plants around the inner rim in the hope that these will eventually provide a green 'frame' to the well opening.