Normandy

A contemporary garden for a 500-year-old farmstead on the Cotentin peninsula where striking sculptural forms meet a more relaxed froth of perennials. The English owners wanted a contemporary garden sympathetic to the old house and its surroundings, some 20 hectares of dairy pasture and orchards that typifies the landscape of rural Normandy. The garden was designed in collaboration with sculptor Johnny Woodford. The inspiration for the landscape and the architecture was taken from a sense of austerity more than any particular detail or view. An attempt to ‘pretty’ would have looked inappropriate. Instead, a simple formal pool is the main feature at the front of the house, which reflects and reinforces the strong architectural presence. Emerging from the pool, the dynamic simplicity of the rusty steel pyramids is not for the faint-hearted but a dramatic adjunct and necessary counterpoise in terms of scale. Nearer the house, an animated ribbon of box topiary snaking off to join the serpentine road beyond. Competing for attention is the local church, which not only dominates as a focal point from many parts of the garden, but also structures the working day with its chimes providing a surprisingly comforting signal to rouse, eat and repose.

The restoration of the house acknowledges the various historical alterations over the years and now stands with an 18th Century façade. A more sympathetic feel at the rear of the property where the courtyard reflects the original 16th century design, almost entirely enclosed by buildings, is typical of most farmsteads of the time that needed some degree of fortification. The owners used local craftsmen and materials wherever possible and were pleased to discover that the skills necessary to restore old buildings were in abundance, often within just a few miles.

Pictures by Nicola Browne