Developing the gardens at CFB

Bringing Quince outside:

The detail in the gardens, grounds and landscaping – what details and stories showcase the investment Quince has made – when we bought the house the grounds looked like municipal commercial gardens.  Heavily mowed, no shape, only evergreens that required no attention and unloved.  There were no gardens as such just a table and chairs on the edge of a parking area.  This was not how Quince wants their houses.  We want to offer people proper relaxing gardens where people can relax and enjoy the surroundings devoid of cars.  Our brief was cars in one main carpark, rewild as many areas as possible adding lots of trees as we went and proper individual gardens for people to relax in.  Lastly each property needed our signature bath and bath house.

How we started:

We divided this large project into stages and intend to continue to develop the grounds over a 5 year period.  Posy Gentles visited the site and initially worked on the courtyard gardens for Roebucks Rose and The Lock Keepers Snipe.  This involved relevelling the garden and removing the parking.  Adding a lot of soil and hard landscaping for paths and dining areas and preparing a planting plan for each house.  We planted 12 trees in the two gardens plus numerous plants and shrubs softening and developing the feel.

Practical and Beautiful:

After Stage 1 we turned our attention to the new carpark.  This had been a drive through area with two large mounds of sub soil waste left in two heaps.  We have added 4 new large beds to the area to divide the carpark from the houses and make a safe area for children and guests to access their houses and walk around the site.  This involved a huge amount of levelling and moving and also included 5 new trees, 100’s of shrubs and bushes to shape the landscape.  We have also added bollarded access so disabled guests can get close to the houses if required.   In addition we have added a car charger for guests to use.

Hosting Al Fresco:

Stage 4 was started last Autumn as we began to develop the sider gardens to the west of the houses.  The intention here is to have play areas facing the evening sun with soft seating to enjoy watching the sunset and enables families to have more space.  This project will take about 2 years to complete as there is extensive planting and shaping to be undertaken.  We have so far planted 15 trees with many more to come.  This stage is running in tandem with Stage 5 which is to develop interesting areas on the wider site for the guests to use and enjoy.  Our 13 acres spread around the surrounding water meadows and there are lots of wildlife habitat to consider but we are aiming to develop areas around this to allow people to feel part of the surrounding nature reserve.