6 : Grange Loan, Edinburgh

Brief

• This was a reasonably sized garden for a family with two teenage children.
• The clients wanted an outdoor space to be proud of in which they could entertain their friends.

Solution

• The kitchen patio doors opened onto a narrow path, a wall and heavy planting. My first impression was one of claustrophobia.
• We decided to remove the wall and the planting close to the house and open up the space to give a feeling of entering an outdoor ‘room’ through the kitchen doors.
• We used wood decking and surrounded the area with a raised, planted border.
• Two Phormium tenax on either side of the steps act as a gateway between the decking and the main garden.
• There has since been many a happy evening, with the family outside drinking wine while sitting next to the chimenea.