An elegant naturalistic garden in one of Essex's prettiest villages
The first time Stefano Marinaz visited Church Barn was to advise on hiding a sewage tank pump. 'That was simple, but I was really struck by the site, which had the potential to be so much more than it was,' recalls the landscape architect.
His clients had recently moved into a beautifully restored 18th-century barn on the edge of one of the prettiest villages in north Essex, but their 900-metre-square garden was a blank canvas of close-mown grass with a gravel driveway leading straight up to the front door. 'The owners hadn't even considered what else they might do with it, but they were wonderfully open to new ideas,' he says.
Five years later, on a crisp November day, the impact of Stefano's vision is startlingly evident. The only grass now left in the garden is of the ornamental variety, with airy curtains of Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Forster' catching the glow of a low wintry sun, surrounded by a tapestry of tawny gold, soft brown and pale silvery skeletal perennials. Here and there, the reliably brilliant aster 'Little Carlow' paints splashes of luminous violet blue: the whole rich planting is anchored by close-clipped hedges of the evergreen Prunus lusitanica, running in lines parallel to the house, which ease further apart as they move away from the building.
'What struck me most forcibly on that initial visit was how massive the building appeared in such a stark setting. It was not a garden you would choose to spend time in,' says Stefano. 'So I made two radical suggestions. The first was to get rid of that lawn and the second was to remove a brick wall that shut the kitchen terrace off from the rest of the garden.'
To replace those harshly delineated spaces, he sketched a network of gravel paths swirling out from the house towards a series of small sitting areas surrounded by plants. The sharp edge between driveway and garden was blurred with plants creeping in from the sides, and he framed the front entrance with a welcoming combination of multi-stemmed Koelreuteria paniculata underplanted with carpets of Origanum vulgare. The finishing touch was a bespoke metal fence, which loosely defines an open courtyard linking the kitchen terrace with the front entrance and separates the driveway parking area from the house.
More trees were planted around the garden - 10 in total, including amelanchiers and Cercis siliquastrum. All were chosen for year-round interest, in multi-stemmed forms that kept the views open while bridging the gulf between the mass of the building and the ground. The connection of house to garden was further emphasised with a sequence of structural elements - those hedges, rows of piled logs (which double as wildlife habitats) and large earthenware pots from Atelier Vierkant - all aligned with the façade. 'These organising elements held the whole thing together, so I could fill the rest of the space with naturalistic planting; knowing it wouldn't just look chaotic,' explains Stefano.
A matrix of low grasses - evergreen Sesleria autumnalis and deciduous Sporobolus heterolepis - provides a protective, weed-suppressing ground cover layer, through which Stefano has run swathes of robust perennials, most of which keep an attractive presence in winter. 'It is easy to plant a garden to look good in spring and summer - the trick is to keep it interesting for the rest of the year. Here, I used lots of things like Agastache 'Blue Fortune', Sanguisorba ‘Cangshan Cranberry’ and Verbena hastata, which are beautiful in flower and then form sculptural winter skeletons strong enough to help hold up other, less resilient plants.' The scheme has also been developed with seasonal combinations in mind, considering not just flowers but also changing foliage colour, berries and seed heads. The purple-leafed honesty Lunaria annua 'Chedglow' brightens the spring picture with its deep violet blooms, but justifies its place well into winter as the papers discs of its seed heads glow like silver pennies in the light.
To minimise maintenance, Stefano mainly focused on politely clump-forming plants, though he has also included a couple of notorious runners. 'Phlomis russeliana and the mountain mint, Pucnanthemum muticum, will both take over if they get the chance, but they are easy to rein in. They are so attractive that they're worth a little effort,' he says.
It still takes just four main sessions a year to keep the whole garden looking good. 'We plant densely, at a rate of about nine 9cm plants per square metre, which leaves little space for weeds. The laurel hedges need trimming only once or twice a year to keep their shape, and everything else is left standing over winter, then cut down in February, right before the early bulbs start coming up.'
Nestled into a shifting sea of perennials thrumming with bird and insect life, Church Barn now has a setting that shows it off to best effect. And, of course, completely hides the pump that started off this whole glorious transformation.
Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture: stefanomarinaz.com
Alister Thorpe1/3Trees, such as Koelreuteria paniculata, are planted throughout the garden.
Alister Thorpe2/3Log piles provide organising elements within the garden as well as habitats for wildlife.
Alister Thorpe3/3The garden sits beside the 14th-century village church, where mature ash, lime and yew enrich local biodiversity.
