Garden design & construction

Our Projects: £10,000 to £20,000: Project 4

British Association of Landscape Industries'

Principal Award winning garden 2004

BBC SMALL TOWN GARDENS

Scenic Blue – Garden Design and Construction, based in Exeter is run by local franchise-owner Andrew Duncan. The firm was started in May 2002, is fully BALI registered, and has since carried out well over 50 garden design and construction projects to an extremely high standard. These include everything from simple garden clearance right through to full garden designs and makeovers.

In June 2003, Andrew and his intrepid team of expert qualified landscapers built a garden for the BBC Small Town Gardens Programme , televised on Friday 19 December at 8pm on BBC2. Typical of the more challenging projects which get Andrew’s juices flowing, this one is on a steeply sloping site (almost 1 in 2 !!!), and well below road level. So it was necessary to erect an 8 metre high scaffolding gantry even to get access into the garden.

Mary Reynolds (winner of Chelsea Flower Show in 2002, with her ‘Celtic Garden’) designed this outdoor living space for artist clients Simon and Theri Hart, on some of the steepest and most forlorn land in Dartmouth, South Devon. Her design successfully re-creates the magic of the hillsides near her County Wicklow home and brings it into a Small Town Garden.

Andrew and his team used natural materials such as slate, local stone, crushed seashells and oak sleepers to bring Mary’s design into reality.

Planting followed Mary’s taste for understatement, by creating meadow turf mounds and hillocks, which are a delight to relax on. These have been naturalised with wild flowers, such as daisies and speedwells. Borders are planted with a mixture of ferns and grasses to produce an ‘almost wild’ look. This style, where a flint knife might not look out of place, could become the new cutting edge in gardens!

Working in exceptionally challenging conditions, the team transported over 100 Tonnes of material into and/or out of the garden during the 7-week project, filmed, of course, at regular intervals by the BBC camera crew. Watch the programme on Dec 19 to see for yourselves as the garden unfolds.

Andrew Duncan can be contacted on 01392 477917 or mobile 07971 578027 or email: Andrew_Duncan@scenicblue.co.uk

Scenic Blue won four awards for domestic gardens in the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) awards 2004