A country garden in Oxfordshire has something no town garden has: the landscape around it. Good garden design in Oxfordshire borrows the views, the stone and the hedgerows, and makes a garden that feels as if it has always been there.
Reading the site
From the limestone of the Cotswold edge to the clay of the Thames valley, Oxfordshire soils vary within a few miles. We start every country project with the soil, the aspect, the wind and the views, because these decide which plants will thrive with little help and which will struggle.
A garden that steps down into the landscape
Close to the house, a country garden can be quite formal: terraces in local stone, clipped yew, a kitchen garden or a rose garden. Further out it should loosen, with long grass, orchard trees and native hedges, until it blends into the fields beyond. This gradient is what makes the best English country gardens feel settled.
- Terrace and borders near the house, planned for long seasons of colour.
- Kitchen garden with raised beds, a cutting garden and a greenhouse.
- Orchard and meadow with mown paths through long grass full of bulbs and wildflowers.
- Native hedging and trees for shelter, wildlife and a link to the countryside.
Planting for a family in the country
Families in the country want space to run, and planting that does not need daily attention. Long-lived perennials, shrub roses, grasses and spring bulbs give a lot of colour for the effort. Crab apples such as Malus x atrosanguinea 'Gorgeous' flower in spring and hold their fruit into December, so they earn their place twice.
Across Oxfordshire and beyond
We work across Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, as well as in Suffolk and Sussex, and visit regularly during the build and the first growing seasons.
