The Brief
Set amidst rolling green hills in Derbyshire, The Old Parsonage is a garden that needed to serve as both a restful retreat and a natural extension of its timeless stone home. The clients are active, outdoorsy, and deeply connected to the landscape around them. They wanted to create a space where they could slow down, breathe, and enjoy the view with a morning coffee – searching for a sanctuary, not a showpiece. A garden that would honour the home’s English country character, feel deeply rooted in place, and provide seating spots for peaceful reflection as well as natural structure and beauty throughout the seasons.
Design & Planting
We took their vision and shaped it through our modern country aesthetic, blending gentle formality with flowing, romantic planting. The result is a garden that complements the historic house while opening out to embrace the countryside beyond.
At the top of the garden, a curving lawn near the house is edged with a row of neatly clipped Taxus balls and a soft, shady perennial border. Here, plants like Brunnera, Epimedium, Geraniums, Hellebores and Rudbeckia mingle beneath the canopy of Amelanchier and Cotinus trees. A quiet, leafy mix that feels completely at home against the mellow stone walls.
From this upper garden, a grey stone sett path leads you through the space, a subtle nod to old English walkways, while a pale cream gravel strip bisects the garden from side to side, edged with weathered mild steel. This path holds the entire composition together, flanked by generous borders full of movement and colour. The palette includes a thoughtful mix of Anemone, Salvia ‘Caradonna’, Astrantia, Nepeta, Cirsium, Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, Rosa ‘The Country Parson’, and many more. A symphony of texture, scent and soft structure that feels as if it’s always been there.
At one end of the gravel walk, a bespoke oxidised steel sculpture, designed by us and fabricated locally, stands in front of a row of pleached hornbeams, screening the neighbour’s house. At the other, a classic Lutyens bench sits in dappled shade. A perfect pause point framed by romantic planting and that glorious countryside view.
Turning through an oak-framed pergola clad with Akebia quinata and Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’, you arrive at a tucked-away seating area with a large corner sofa and coffee table, angled back towards the house. A striking bronze-finish planter sits beneath the pergola, centred with a Heptacodium tree and surrounded by Hellebores, Epimedium and Saxifrage. A row of Miscanthus ‘Starlight’ softens the dropped edge of the terrace, while beyond lies a large lawn, naturally divided by a slope and framed by a Prunus lusitanica hedge.
Every step of the way, the garden is designed to guide you gently through. Nothing forced, nothing fussy, just a quiet rhythm of form and foliage.
Considerations & Constraints
The planting scheme, though naturalistic in appearance, required careful choreography. One of the biggest challenges was ensuring that slower-growing plants like the roses had room to breathe among more vigorous companions. As the borders settled, we adapted. Geraniums were lifted and divided to prevent them from overwhelming neighbouring groundcover, and we gave particular attention to spacing and staking in the first year.
It was a project of patience and responsiveness, a constant conversation with the garden as it evolved. The layout itself was straightforward, but the planting required a sculptor’s eye and a gardener’s intuition to get the balance just right.
Success.
Now, just a year on, the garden feels wonderfully established. It’s hard to believe it’s only twelve months old. The planting has grown in beautifully, the spaces flow with natural ease, and the clients are thrilled. They regularly start their day on the bench, coffee in hand, watching the morning mist lift over the fields. For our team, The Old Parsonage stands as a reminder that beauty doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it whispers. It’s a garden that doesn’t try too hard, it simply fits. It’s honest, grounded, and quietly enchanting.
And that, we think, is the very best kind of magic.