Hello from our Sussex team of 3; Annabelle, Isabelle and Poppy!
We are experts when it comes to garden design in Brighton and designing small urban spaces, with year-round interest acting as an extension of your home. We all live in Brighton and fully understand the demands of urban gardens with little privacy and most of our enquiries are to re-think ways that we can maximise plants without sacrificing space. Small gardens have to work incredibly hard to suit modern lifestyles, providing space to host family and friends, where kids have room to play, maximising growing space and offering a place to switch off from the noise of the city.
Brighton is celebrated for its vibrant diversity, regency architecture and lively seafront, so we are never short of inspiration. If you’re looking for some coastal and urban garden inspiration, here are a few of our favourite bits involving all things garden design in Brighton.
Brighton Project Cause Study
Before our re-design, this urban garden was a rectangle of AstroTurf, with zero planting and an oversized trampoline squeezed down the side. This garden needed to work for a busy family of 4, with space for a trampoline and areas to host and relax. We knew that adding lots of colour and texture was key to this design without taking up too much space. Often in this scenario we
start with a linear and a curvy design to work out zoned areas and how the space will flow. We preferred the curvy design, as did our client, and here is the result!
After!
Taking inspiration from Brighton beach, we cut the porcelain stepping stones into organic shapes and surrounded them with sedum to add texture and colour. A sunken trampoline was added surrounded by plants to help screen this from the house, which also freed up space to the side of the house. We also added two seating areas, one on the east side to enjoy a morning coffee in the sun and another dining area for hosting and enjoying a bbq with friends.
We must carefully consider which plants we put into Brighton gardens as coastal, urban gardens have to withstand pollution, unpredictable winds and chalky soil. For this space, we added raised beds in the areas that get full sun where we can have more control over the soil and drainage. We added lots of cool toned planting to contrast again the corten steel with pops of orange, and grasses for texture. A scheme that works perfectly in urban gardens!
Hove Project – Case Study
Here is another urban space that we really enjoyed designing. This client wanted to create a stunning, modern garden to look out onto from her kitchen with lots of planting. She particularly wanted to add colour and for her garden to feel like an extension of the house.
Before, the lawn was astroturf with old pavers and wooden sleepers that needed replacing. There was very little planting, apart from an established Trachelospermum jasminoides which we wanted to incorporate into the design. We were given creative freedom to do something different from the usual, so we worked on multiple bold options before the finished design.
We considered the linear and curvy design options and chose linear as we wanted to maximise seating space and reflect the geometric pattern that we chose for the tiles. These striking tiles from Bert and May are a fantastic way to add personality into an urban garden. They add instant colour when perennials are not in bloom and help to zone areas. In this case, we wanted the tiles to brighten up the side area of the house, which was looked on from the client home office as well as creating visual interest from the kitchen. It’s so important to consider the design of ‘dead’ spaces in the garden just as much as used spaces. We added a large water feature to mask exterior sounds and add further colour and structure. Corten steel raised beds were built to add height so you could see the colourful plants from the kitchen, and a Betula Pendula was planted to create dappled light and to soften the line of sight.
If you need further inspiration, check out our Instagram where we post regular updates on our projects. If you have an urban garden space that you are stuck with, send us an email or give us a call and we’d be more than happy to discuss your project with you!
