Garden Design in Camberwell, South London

The Brief

This was a small rear garden in Camberwell, south London, on the border with Peckham, behind a modern extension. The client wanted an intimate, private, contemporary space that worked hard in a small footprint — somewhere to sit, eat and cook outside, without a lot of upkeep.

Time was the real constraint. With work and periods away from home, the planting had to be low-maintenance and easy to care for. The look they were after summed the whole job up nicely: homely but not messy, clean but not clinical.

The Design

The garden is built around privacy and a sense of enclosure, since that mattered most to the client. Double-sided batten screening wraps the boundaries, giving a clean, contemporary edge and blocking the overlooking windows around the plot without feeling boxed in.

The most private spot — directly outside the kitchen window — became the sitting and relaxing area, exactly where the client wanted it. A second zone is given over to an integrated barbecue with a small work surface, and a designated space for eating outside.

The rear wall, which was leaning badly into the garden, was rebuilt and rendered, with planting gaps deliberately left in it for a Swan Lake climbing rose and herbs to grow through and soften the structure. The brown extension was repainted in a soft sage green, tying the building  into the planting rather than fighting it.  

For hard landscaping I used 800mm x 800mm Piazza white porcelain paving with flamingo aggregate, keeping to the lighter, warmer palette the client preferred over greys and blacks. 

Planting is a restrained scheme of purple, green and white — Verbena bonariensis, asters, Agapanthus, salvia, roses and herbs — with a multi-stemmed Amelanchier for height and seasonal interest, chosen to suit both the sunny and shaded parts of the garden and to keep maintenance low.