We pay close attention to the structure of the space and the appropriateness of the materials we use and, by carefully analysing the location as well as the wider landscape, we create gardens which sit comfortably in their context and are built to last.
We take each brief afresh and never apply a set design model. The gardens are unique responses to each individual space and each individual owner.
Commercial clients include The Landmark Trust, The Forestry Commission, York Theatre Royal, Sandburn Hall as well as many schools, architects and property developers.
From the moment I met Lizzie I sensed we would have a great working relationship. She listened carefully to hear my ideas and incorporated them with her own to produce the perfect plan for our old walled garden. I can’t imagine how we would have got to the end of our project without her professionalism, creativity, kindness and humour.
- Mrs Sladden, Sowerby
The design of gardens wrapping around a renovated country farm house, set within a beautiful rural Yorkshire village. Ethereal grasses and perennials are used to soften the architecture and garden features to provide a calm and soft scheme to be enjoyed throughout the year.
A garden with an open aspect, set within rural Yorkshire, the design uses shrubs as informal and formal structure with perennials and grasses with movement and colour to encourage views to the landscape beyond, whilst enjoying the delights within the garden. The front garden has a tapestry of shade loving plants, set beneath trees with interesting stem colour. The back garden includes a large patio area, breeze house and borders surrounding extensive lawn areas.
Set on a heavily sloping site, a new contemporary terraced scheme was designed for outdoor enjoyment.
A glass and oak pergola protect you from prevailing winds and views of a new sculpture and garden lighting allow for maximum enjoyment of the garden. A contemporary snug, set on the sawn stone terrace, with bespoke planters and gas fire pit, contained by glass balustrading, allows for views out into the garden and to the landscape beyond.
Stripping away an overgrown and long-neglected space, we created gardens which wrap around a beautiful Harrogate stone property. With an abundance of planting, the design includes space for growing fruit and vegetables, a stone based Victorian greenhouse, stone retaining walls to create a more comfortable environment, providing easy access to the house, and plenty spaces to sit and relax, both formally for entertaining and informally for regular use.
A garden which uses traditional materials in a modern way.
We created beautiful gardens from run-down and disused gardens and parking space for a grand town house, previously a hotel, in front of York Racecourse. The scheme included a large coy pond constructed in layers of York Stone Paving, a bubbling water feature and a tall sweeping staircase front the front door.
Previously a tarmacked car park for the NHS, this transformed garden provides a balance of sociable spaces including an outdoor kitchen, a large eating area, a snug with a multi-stemmed Cherry tree and lounging sofas, set into an oak framed structure with a woodboring stove.
The curved bull-nosed shallow steps sit at the heart of the garden, providing a transition between the patio and main lawn, where large oversized planters sit- ready to be filled. A new oak framed garage is set into the top corner of the garden, with a new resin driveway, set beside new raised planters, with pleached hedging strategically placed for screening.
The extensive gardens in Upper Dunsforth were created as a series of spaces to be enhanced by the beautiful context of the surrounding landscape, to make the most of the views out to the Vale of York and to work with the existing architecture and link these buildings with the new Loggia.
A new driveway, front garden, a Cloister Garden parterre, formal, upper and lower lawns and a stumpery with a new stream were all created for this unique garden. The garden has been featured in the Yorkshire Post and will be opening to the public by appointment.
Gardens to surround the award-winning architecture by Will Slack which featured on Grand Designs and given the catchy title the ‘House that Slack Built’. The aim of the design was to soften the house and wider landscape, whilst retaining structural integrity. Featuring large Taxus balls, specimen Magnolias and a kitchen garden with a bubbling water bowl, the scheme provides year-round interest which is tolerant of the windy site set into the Yorkshire landscape.
This garden compliments the refurbishment of a large country house in Huby. A new roof garden with glass ballustrading, set on top of the new pool house provides calm, elevated views out to the large lawned gardens. Terraces give space for eating and entertaining, with bespoke planters providing planting space to soften the architecture.
This scheme was featured on Gardeners World on the BBC and recently won Garden of the Year by Channel 4, a collaborative master-planning with the client for Stretton Old Hall in Chester. The scheme includes formal lawns with perennial borders, two interflowing water rill gardens, a new pool, pool house and contemporary poolside planting, a sunken walled kitchen garden and a new lake and woodland. The scheme uses traditional materials in a contemporary way.
Set on a sloping site, the garden was created for beautiful views out of the house as well as an enjoyable journey through the garden and extended use of the garden at night.
A curved wall, with sawn coping contains the upper terrace with plenty structural planting and traditional planting of scented Roses and Phlox. Box balls cascade down towards the lawn area, containing the new covered oak structure which allows for views down the garden and night-time enjoyment.
A front garden in Boston Spa designed to work alongside existing dominating pine trees. A calm palette of silvers, greens and white have been used to compliment the mellow tones of the local stonework. Spring flowering Brunnera pick up tones from the Birch trees and heavily scented Viburnum’s have been used between oversized planters, provided spring scent. Anemones provide autumn colour together with the large heads of Hydrangeas, set next to the bench and figurine as a new focus for the space.
In a windy part of North Yorkshire, this garden has been created which pulls views from the extended landscape and uses the site conditions to its advantage.
Plenty conifer trees were felled before a new garden which encompasses a kitchen garden, sweeping lawn borders, a cloister garden with formal pleaching, a kitchen garden, dog garden and also a new bog garden, used for attenuation. The planting scheme uses plenty perennials and grasses for movement and colour as well as shrubs for extended seasonal interest.
The clever use of space in this Yorkshire garden provides a series of rooms with views of the borrowed landscape, through bespoke timber windows. New limestone walling defines the patio area, fire pit snug lounging space and a space to enjoy the evening sun. A new greenhouse is situated within the wide and inviting lawn, softened with perennials, blurring the transition between garden and landscape.
The garden uses texture and form to illustrate contrasts, as suggested in the title, through its choice of plants and landscaping materials. Shrubs line the pathway up to the seating area which is flanked by two sections of hedging. Soft perennials edge the lower parts of the garden and surround the ‘Rough with the Smooth‘ water feature. The strong use of foliage plants have been selected to complement the landscaping and hedging. A stone rill frames the garden. The garden won the Premier Gold Award.
From what was previously part of the Manor House’s traditional garden, a new contemporary garden was created for the converted stables.
A new courtyard garden, front garden, orchard, kitchen garden, formal lawns and a walled garden were designed with plenty evergreen structure and shape and perennial planting with vivid colour and vibrancy.
This garden was transformed from a patch of lawn with picket fencing and a coal house to a space where traditional materials are used in a contemporary design. Raised stone planters, a sandstone edged lawn and an oak pergola with swing seat, are offset by this listed period property.
This village garden was developed during the renovation and extension for this period property. The client’s desire was to establish an easy to maintain garden to soften the house and provide a contemporary uplift for the space. Simple specimen planting with a mixed pallet of shrubs and perennials were used within the re-shaped front garden, the side courtyard garden, with a new lead fountain, and around the new patio and lawn areas.
The garden was a response to the sculpture by Rebecca Newnham which formed the centerpiece of the space. The tones of the sculpture were brought out in the stone and wood featured in the garden. The strong use of Iris complimented the form of the sculpture. The planting used both established cottage garden plants with more modern architectural plants and grasses. The garden won a large gold medal and the title of 'Best in Show.'
A long town garden within the centre of York. The garden houses large works of art and reflects the clients passion for new and old materials. Included in the scheme are porcelain tiles, aluminium and slate raised planters, bespoke fencing and an Iroko and glass screen. This garden won an award by the British Association of the Landscape Industry (BALI). It also won a York Design Awards for Landscape/Open Space 2013.
A formal Georgian walled garden with large herbaceous borders, box and yew topiary, a lavender walk and traditional climbing roses and clematis on a bespoke rose arch. The central focal point of the garden is a lead water fountain which leads you into the garden and onto a summerhouse. A sundial and pleached hornbeam hedging provide focus and screening in the garden.
Originally an undulating and sloping garden, this re-design incorporates flat formal lawns, a large walled courtyard garden, a sunken garden and upper informal lawns for play. Developing strong formal structures into this Georgian garden with pathways and hedging, the design improves the circulation, focus and use of the walled garden.
The development of a new planting scheme for a Coach House in Harrogate. The scheme takes ‘Country Comes to Town’ as its inspiration, using traditional planting mixed with more contemporary varieties and grasses, creating contrasting combinations to dramatic affect. The garden was featured on BBC Radio and has been featured in local press.
A contemporary water rill garden, calm, peaceful and light, with crisp diamond cut sandstone paving, rendered planters, contrasting gravel which glitters in the sun, flanked by Beech and Hornbeam hedging. The gardens surround an 18th Century farmhouse, open to the public between April and September each year. For more information please visit stillingfleetlodgenurseries.co.uk
A compact space within the heart of York. The garden, only 4 metres wide, reflects the period property with its brick walling and sandstone paving. A contemporary twist has been added with bespoke horizontal fencing.
The complete implementation of a garden, within the grounds of a Grade II William and Mary country house. The scheme’s mature installation was within two weeks with planting looking its best and flowering ensured for a specific date.
Structural planting of varying textures and form were used to contrast with swathes of perennials and grasses.
Set against the brick backdrop of a converted stables in Yorkshire, the mellow tones of the brick are used within the landscaping, together with riven sandstone, to create garden rooms. Ample space is given for sitting, eating and entertaining, surrounded by soft mixed planting of shrubs and perennials and a central curved lavender border giving focus at the heart of the garden. Scented plants are used in the secret side garden, proving the perfect spot to relax and enjoy the garden.
In 2003 Lizzie worked, within a group of four to redefine the traditional pub garden, gaining a Silver-gilt. With bubbling columns to mimic pub optics as the main feature and Yew hedging set within steel frames as the backs to durable rubber seating, the garden was softened with ethereal planting, soft foliage of a Sorbus tree and a backdrop of the mellow tones of brickwork.
Set within the award winning Derwenthorpe development in Yorkshire, this garden combines function and aesthetics successfully together in a contemporary solution. Careful consideration was given to the use of this space and light, allowing an area for dining, morning coffee, composting, access of bicycles, growing fruit and vegetables, hanging out the washing as well as plenty of opportunities for flowering plants.
The master planning for a manor house on the south coast. Windbreak planting of trees and shrubs, dry-stone walling, a large oak pergola, oak planters set into the hill-side and a sunken seating area are included in this scheme. The planting scheme is created from plants tolerant of coastal conditions with large swathes of grasses, perennials and shrubs.
Masterplan for gardens surrounding a farm house near York. The design included a new driveway, formal orangery lawns, terraces and lakeside borders, with a new decked pontoon.
An informal garden, using traditional perennials with contemporary grasses and shrubs to create a flowing natural oasis in the centre of Harrogate. An enclosed courtyard garden is created beneath the canopy of a Silver Birch with a bespoke water feature as a focal point. A stone curved wall provides focus at the bottom of the garden.
