A masterclass in city garden design by Tom Massey
It is a design solution for many a long and narrow London plot to divide the space into three or four sections, so that the garden is not revealed all at once, counter-intuitively making it seem larger. This is exactly what Tom Massey has done with this garden in Richmond, but in such an ingenious and detailed way that it is hard to believe it was one of his first ever garden commissions.
Thirty-five-year-old Tom, who was one of the designers on the BBC Two series Your Garden Made Perfect earlier this year, studied at the London College of Garden Design at Kew before setting up his own practice in 2015. Not one to rest on his laurels, he created a gold-medal-winning show garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show the following year, which is where he was discovered by the owners of this London garden.
About 100 metres long, with a simple York stone terrace near the house leading up to a formal lawn and borders, it has a small potager in the middle and an intriguing woodland wilderness at the far end. The sections are divided by louvred screens made from chunky iroko wood uprights, which allow glimpses through and beyond each area, as well as casting beautiful shadows. A ribbon of water runs the length of the garden, starting in the woodland area, where it bubbles up through a boulder like a natural spring, and transitioning to a Corten-steel rill in the more formal areas before emerging into a lily trough on the terrace. ‘The water links the whole space and draws you into the garden,’ says Tom. ‘Water brings so much to a garden: sound, movement, reflections and wildlife all add different dimensions.’
Rather than making borders on either side of the stone terrace, which would have eaten into the already narrow space, Tom decided to create living walls on both sides, collaborating with green-wall specialist Tapestry Vertical Gardens. Large plants such as fatsias, euphorbias and fuchsias thrive here in the hydroponic system, giving a fabulous 3D textured effect. From the terrace, stone steps lead up to the formal lawn and borders, where plants such as Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Hydrangea quercifolia and Molinia ‘Heidebraut’ come into their own in late summer. Six small parrotia trees, three on each side of the lawn, rise up from the planting. Tom chose the cultivar ‘Vanessa’ – with a more compact, upright shape than the species itself, it is ideal for a small garden.
A stepping-stone path up the side of the lawn is designed to deliberately slow you down as you walk. This leads through to the small potager, where the path continues unbroken now, curving round alongside the narrow rill. Raised Corten-edged beds and a small minimal-framed greenhouse fit cleanly into the space, while pear trees are trained against the boundary wall. Finally, you reach the woodland area at the back of the garden, a relaxed retreat in which a contemporary iroko-clad garden building is cocooned by leafy hawthorn trees and a naturalistic planting of ferns, feathery deschampsia grass and Baltic parsley. Trees in neighbouring gardens mean that it is difficult to see where the garden ends. ‘Borrowing from the surrounding landscape is so important in a small garden,’ Tom observes. ‘You have to look closely at what is already there and work with it rather than fighting against it.’
There are many facets to this garden but, like the pieces of a perfectly finished jigsaw, they all slot together seamlessly to create a brilliantly clever space. With green walls, water features, high-spec hardscaping and a bespoke garden room, this was not a cheap garden to build, with costs running to several hundred thousand pounds. ‘It was a dream project,’ admits Tom. ‘Part of the brief was that it should be child friendly, so instead of a climbing frame, I put in a stream. You can hop across the boulders, splash in the water or sail a toy boat down the rill. I try to make all my gardens fun and playful’.
Tom Massey Studio: tommassey.co.uk.
Tom is designing the Yeo Valley Organic Garden for the inaugural autumn RHS Chelsea Flower Show on September 21-26; rhs.org.uk
Britt Willoughby Dyer1/6Steps lead from the terrace near the house to a lawn edged by loosely planted borders. An iroko wood screen separates this area from a vegetable plot
Britt Willoughby Dyer2/6A view up the side of the garden shows the stepping-stone path, alongside which runs a narrow rill carrying water from the top end of the garden to the bottom.
Britt Willoughby Dyer3/6The rill culminates in a Corten-steel lily pond, fed by a simple waterfall, with a leafy living wall above.
Britt Willoughby Dyer4/6Looking towards the house from the top end of the garden, the York stone path curves round in a more informal way, while interesting shadows are cast by the iroko wood screen.
Britt Willoughby Dyer5/6The rill turns into a stepped waterfall as it runs down to the bottom terrace.
Britt Willoughby Dyer6/6In the woodland area at the far end of the garden, the waterway widens out into a stream shaped with boulders and softened by shade-loving plants
