Hampstead Heath Garden

This was a delightful garden to design with views onto the Heath and a secret door.

The newly designed and built house with copper details that have been echoed in the garden, tying in the outdoors with the interior.
The newly designed and built house with copper details that have been echoed in the garden, tying in the outdoors with the interior.
Stage 1

The Brief

The garden needed to work on many practical levels, serving a growing family of 5, with 2 dogs, whilst providing visual impact as soon as you walked in the front door. The traditional house was undergoing a sympathetic refurbishment, which included a stunning double height glass atrium with copper cladding, affording a magnificent view out onto the garden from two key floors, placing great emphasis on the garden design layout.

Stage 2

Design and Build

We chose to follow the lines of the new extension, to create a geometric design that belied the awkward triangular plot. Generous wide stone steps lead you up from the lower patio to a central lawn with stone banding. A focal panel in Bronze echoes the rich copper colours used internally, and draws the eye out from the house.

The sunniest spot is towards the rear of the garden, so a floating deck has been created to maximise this aspect, with a sunken fire pit for those cold summer evenings. Clipped Taxus hedging is used to create discreet partitions and obscure play areas, and keep the Heath door a hidden surprise.

From the top floor, the tall windows reveal a feature panel at the back of the garden, near an existing Gledistia tree overlooking Hampstead heath.
From the top floor, the tall windows reveal a feature panel at the back of the garden, near an existing Gledistia tree overlooking Hampstead heath.
Lush planting in this woodland area to the rear of the garden
Lush planting in this woodland area to the rear of the garden
Stage 3

Finished Project

An oak timber boardwalk behind the deck transports you above the planting to a secret lookout den, constructed from whole chestnut logs, to blend in with the landscape. The client’s children take great delight in watching the world go by on Hampstead Heath, from the security of their low tree house.

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The raised hardwood timber deck floats above the lawn, just in front of the hidden play house, overlooking Hampstead Heath. The woodland planting moves towards the lawn, where a feature bronze panel stands. Some grasses soften the edges of the turf, making it disappear.
A buff rendered wall, with yorkstone coping detail, is planted with overhanging herbaceous perennials and grasses to soften the edges of this Hampstead Heath garden.
Gleditsia triacanthos ‘Sunburst’ is the real feature in this Hampstead Heath garden, glowing in the morning light. The soft looking grass, Deschampsia cespitosa and some tall red flowers, Cirsium rivulare,also stand out.
A shadow gap under the hardwood timber deck is a nice detail to lighten the construction. The seating area seems to be floating above the perfect lawn, surrounded by soft herbaceous planting. Some tall birch trees create some intimacy from the neighbours in this Hampstead Heath garden.
Tucked at the rear of the garden, a raised hardwood timber deck floats above the lawn. Surrounded by lush planting on three sides, it merges with the natural look of the woodland behind, near Hampstead Heath.
The morning light is caught by the Deschampsia cespitosa in the woodland planting of this Hampstead Heath garden. The built-in boardwalk seems to be floating above the foliage such as Euphorbia amygdaloids var. robbiae and Dryopteris erythrosora, waiting for the Hydrangea paniculata to flower.
Prunus ‘Accolade’, spring flowering Japanese cherry tree looking stunning in front of the bronze panel feature in this Hampstead Heath garden.
Detail of the shadow gap under the hardwood timber deck in this Hampstead Heath garden, North London.
The rectangular lawn is accessed from the lower patio using long, wide yorkstone steps. Some mixed borders on either side make the boundaries disappear, with the addition of some pleached trees. At the back, the woodland planting merges with the existing forest, whilst an old Gleditsia with yellow leaves becomes a main focal point to enjoy from the house.
Hampstead Heath garden before the project was built and designed by London Garden Designer.
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Photos by Marianne Majerus

Testimonial

"My husband and I have quite different ideas about many things, including how to transform our garden. Sara Jane was thoughtful and calm, and used her background in theatre design to keep both sides happy, with a beautiful design that maintained pockets of surprises but was far more user-friendly for us, our 3 young children and 2 dogs. She's a lovely easy-going person who takes on board what the client is asking for whilst bringing along creativity and her own passion for colour, form and abundant nature. She has a mature understanding of what will work in different environments, and has created a fantastic garden for us."

Residents of Hampstead Heath Garden