Nina Baxter Garden Design

Family Garden, Beckenham

tcrawford — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 13:56:22 +0000

Family Garden, Beckenham

The Design Brief

To rework the existing, slightly tired garden to bring it up to date, creating a more generous terrace that flows from the house while bringing into use other areas of the garden, including a space for a garden room with rear seating area. The house faces directly south so shade on the main terrace needs to be considered.

The Challenge

The garden contains a lot of maturity such as specimen trees so the design had to work around these and also a level change towards the rear of the garden.

The Design Solution

The existing sandstone terrace is replaced by a more contemporary porcelain one and rendered, raised planters are built to provide a loose planting screen, dividing the space from the rest of the garden. A large timber pergola sits over the terrace, connecting the house with the planters and providing a framework for grape vines and climbing roses. New pathways connect the house to a garden room with sedum roof and the decked seating area is enveloped by planting borders which now encompass an existing weeping pear and a mature Magnolia.

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Family Garden, Bickley

tcrawford — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 18:05:38 +0000

Family Garden, Bickley

The Design Brief

Following a complete renovation of the house, we were asked to create a more cohesive garden space with areas for entertaining, relaxing and playing, with a clear journey between them and a beautiful aspect with a nod to the Arts and Crafts style of the house. Planting to attract wildlife was also a key factor.

The Challenge

A large site with a steep slope towards one corner and an existing, decommissioned water feature which needed to be removed. The site is in a conservation area so all trees are protected and needed to be incorporated into the design.

The Design Solution

A traditional, wrap-around terrace is added to compliment the house with wide, colourful perennial borders giving a haze of planting through which to see the larger garden. The levels are completely re-worked to provide a formal, rectangular lawn space above with steps leading down to a natural, wilder area below with new tree plantings and wildflower meadow. A long, straight path to the side of the garden leads through an avenue of fastigiate hornbeams to a communal circular seating area for evening entertaining, providing a long view down the garden.

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Formal Front Garden, Beckenham

tcrawford — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 17:52:18 +0000

Formal Front Garden, Beckenham

The Design Brief

To give the traditional red-brick Victorian house more curb appeal, with space for parking as well as paths leading to the front and rear of the house. Useable parking space needed to be increased without detracting from the look of the garden.

The Challenge

A very tired space with an existing dominating ash tree taking up a great deal of useable space. The house sits on a corner plot with no proper boundary, meaning members of the public would often cut across it.

The Design Solution

The garden is set out in a traditional, rectilinear design; on one side Victorian tiled pathways are surrounded by low hedged borders while the other side is given over to a resin bound drive. New brick walling harmonises with the house brick and encompasses the garden, creating an attractive boundary to both sides of the plot.

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Rill Garden, Chislehurst

tcrawford — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 17:32:20 +0000

Rill Garden, Chislehurst

The Design Brief

A traditional, Arts and Crafts style garden to include a rill water feature to harmonise with existing garden elements and the style of the house. The client wanted a relaxing and immersive water feature to enjoy in the garden while also providing views from the house.

The Challenge

The plot was part of a larger garden; wide but shallow and with existing sets of steps leading up from a lower, landscaped garden terrace. A slight slope from side to side provided challenges for the water rill while existing mature features, such as a large Eucalyptus, needed to be incorporated. A shady rear border required replanting to provide more year-round interest.

The Design Solution

The existing lawn and central planting beds were removed and the site levelled. Three separated pools were constructed, built to appear as one long water rill with a flow from one side of the garden to the other. A central lily pond draws the focus and ‘bridges’ cross the water at various points, creating journeys around the feature. Low mounded planting beds of roses and evergreen domes line the pools and complement the water planting while the lush, shady planting of the long rear border acts as a green backdrop.

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Italianate Front Garden, Kent

tcrawford — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 16:12:36 +0000

Italianate Front Garden, Kent

The Design Brief

An Italianate-styled space, grand yet welcoming, with abundant planting and a profusion of colour, creating more structure and year-round interest to the front of the property.

The Challenge

An existing pathway of crazy paving, lined by overgrown lavenders and dated planting with lack of colour, was in poor condition. A number of mature hedges provided screening and had to be retained, along with some mature shrubs with a sentimental value.

The Design Solution

An archway leads up a central, sandstone pathway with standard roses flanking the sides, underplanted with lavender. Two formal, cushion-like lawns sit either side of the path, contrasting with the oxidised steel edging, gates and cherubs. Clipped topiary is planted through Cotswold chippings while relaxed planting encloses the garden with scent and colour.

Garden built by Elitescapes.

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Urban Courtyard Garden, South London

tcrawford — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:11:41 +0000

Urban Courtyard Garden, South London

The Design Brief

To create a secluded sanctuary for the family to spend time in eating, relaxing, working and entertaining. A garden space that works in harmony with the style and age of the house, while being a little more up-to-date and contemporary.

The Challenge

The house sits on a corner plot of a classic Victorian terrace in a densely populated part of London, with all the surrounding noise and busyness that entails. A large tower block looms nearby, and mature street trees just the other side of the fence make the garden feel damp and shady, despite its aspect.

The Design Solution

A cosy timber ‘shack’ sits at the heart of the garden, and is surrounded by raised bed planting to insulate it from the urban hum just feet away. It creates an enclosed area for relaxing and working from home while blocking views of the 1960s council estate nearby, diminishing the sense of being overlooked. The planting is bold and textural with an emphasis on foliage to create year-round interest, and deaden sound. Brickwork and Corten steel reflect the age of the property while composite cladding is used to modernise the aspect of the 1950s garage. The space has a cosy, intimate Mediterranean feel, despite the rush of modern life around it.

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Parterre Garden, Chislehurst

tcrawford — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 11:59:59 +0000

Parterre Garden, Chislehurst

The Design Brief

A traditional space that complements the house and its surroundings, is a joy to come home to every day, and feels as if it has always been there.

The Challenge

The house is tucked at the end of a narrow lane that also serves as an access road for a school. The plot is separated from the lane by a thin strip of land, dense with ash tree and scrub, obscuring the beauty of the house, but offering no real privacy from the hundreds of schoolchildren passing daily.

The Design Solution

An intricate, symmetrical grid of Old Stock bricks gives an immediate sense of permanence, and is edged on two sides with mature hedging. The length of the house is faced by a series of parterre beds, each with profuse cottage garden planting contained within dense myrtle hedging. Four specimen pear trees give height. Outside the hedging, the thin strip of land is transformed into a woodland walk that takes a meandering oak-edged path through forest flower and scent, allowing tantalising glimpses of the house but screening it effectively through several layers of planting.

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Small Courtyard Garden, Beckenham

tcrawford — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 11:58:18 +0000

Small Courtyard Garden, Beckenham

The Design Brief

A formal yet relaxed space with an area for entertainment featuring permanent seating and a source of heat. The main impetus for the design was to reduce the sense of being overlooked by creating more structure and interest for the eye to alight upon within the garden itself.

The Challenge

A north-facing space, over-shadowed by a four-storey townhouse and directly overlooked on all sides, shady and cold against the house but with areas of warm sunshine along the right-hand side and especially towards the rear.

The Design Solution

To make the areas directly adjoining the house more suitable for entertainment, raised beds were built to minimise draughts and create a more enclosed space and wall capping was added to allow for plenty of seating. A fire-pit was installed, balanced by a decorative cut corten steel panel opposite. The garden was re-focused along its sunnier side through the construction of a wooden pergola that culminates in two seating areas to fully enjoy what sun the garden receives.

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Contemporary Family Garden, Chislehurst

tcrawford — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 11:57:04 +0000

Contemporary Family Garden, Chislehurst

The Design Brief

A clean and contemporary design to allow the space to flow smoothly from the new kitchen/living room extension, to feature a cascading water feature down the slope of the garden and the removal of a large pond to create more room for entertaining.

The Challenge

A steeply sloping site, surrounded by heavy mature planting that blocks out the light, the main feature of which is a dated-looking pond which takes up most of the existing useable space.

The Design Solution

The pond area is filled in to create an upper, decked terrace using Ipe hardwood. Water flows through a letterbox opening along a steel rill and then down into a pool on the lower terrace. Clean, rendered, retaining walls throw light into the space while a lower dining area is delineated by an Ipe deck cut into the stone paving. Cool, lush planting surrounds the terraces.

Garden built by Elitescapes.

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Arts & Crafts Garden, Bickley

tcrawford — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 09:59:52 +0000

Arts & Crafts Garden, Bickley

The Design Brief

An Arts & Crafts inspired space with a real sense of permanence and seclusion to harmonise with the 1920s house, which can be used as a family garden for relaxing, eating, playing and entertaining.

The Challenge

The house once stood on a far larger plot but encroaching development over the years has meant this is now considerably reduced, leading to a slightly awkward shape that is much wider than it is long. Uneven levels throughout complicated the flow of the garden, and the planting was tired and unloved.

The Design Solution

The space was divided into ‘garden rooms’, comprising two courtyards and a centrepiece lawn with symmetrical borders and separate entertainment area featuring a bespoke pergola and day bed of English oak for those long lazy summer days. Traditional materials such as York stone and clay pavers were used throughout the hard landscaping and a series of long views created with brickwork arches. Abundant cottage garden planting alongside a line of pleached trees gives a real sense of privacy.

Garden built by Elitescapes.

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