Lateral House Garden

“Totally gutting a London house to create a new home for me and my partner was a project which took a couple of years to complete. An integral part of this was to create a beautiful and relaxing garden which we can access directly from our kitchen/dining room as well as a roof terrace. Whilst I had some ideas as to what we want to achieve with the hard landscaping of the garden and the roof terrace, I had scant knowledge of plants so I needed serious hand holding on that front. After talking to a number of garden designers, we finally settled upon Emma and, without a doubt, Emma was a great choice.

Emma was a joy to work with and we truly felt we worked together as a team to create a wonderful outdoor space which would be a natural extension of and, more importantly, would form a harmonious whole with the rest of the house. From our initial discussion with Emma, we were impressed with her professionalism. She took care to listen to our vision of what we wanted of our garden and roof terrace, produced numerous drawings and mood boards so that we can discuss various alternatives, and in order to give us a realistic feel of what the garden and roof terrace would be like, she procured the necessary samples to ensure that we would be comfortable with the materials we would use. At all times during the process, she liaised closely with our architect and once it got to the construction phase for the garden, she also closely supervised our contractor. Emma was attentive, helpful and fun to be with from the initial design phase all the way through to the planting of the garden and the roof terrace.

Not only is Emma fantastic to work with, the end result is truly amazing. As the house completed in November last year, we had to wait for the winter to pass to see the amazing drama unfolding in our garden and what a treat that has been since around March this year. Thanks to Emma’s clever choice of plants, there has never been a dull moment in our garden and roof terrace. As each month passes, they seem to acquire a fantastic new look as new plants and flowers bloom whilst others fade. In our garden, the drama unfolds with the magnificent appearance of the tulip – Queen of Night, followed by the regal appearance of the purple and white alliums, accompanied by the beautiful and delicate Heuchera Greenfinch, the vibrant and richly textured Alchemilla mollis, lavender and geranium and, as of late the blossoming of the perfumed jasmine, gorgeous hydrangea and wonderful agapanthus.

Given that a significant attraction of the house is that not only do we have a beautiful and tranquil garden but that we would also have a roof terrace to enjoy a roof top view of London, the modern, yet comfortable and delicate setting Emma created for the roof terrace is no less a triumph. In addition to the majestic olive trees, herbs and wonderful arrays of alliums we have on the roof terrace, the edge of our roof terrace is lined with lavender, agapanthus and the gently swaying Stipa tenuissima. As we have also been blessed with a great summer, we have enjoyed a number of days of lazing about on our roof terrace, sunbathing and sipping a glass of wine as we watch the sun go down.

Not only is Emma a gifted designer and a good project manager, she was always good at helping us to keep to our budget. That, to us, is the hallmark of a great designer. We would not hesitate in recommending Emma to anyone.”