A Nature Lovers Garden

Tasbuilt are proud to have been a part of the journey to create Birch Grove Gardens in Beaconsfield - thank you, Mark & Gwen!

Your home and garden look ‘picture-perfect’, who is the ‘green thumb’ in the family?

Mark is a qualified garden designer and worked within the horticultural industry for over 40 years. Gwen loves her plants and shows a keen design eye and her influence can be seen within the gardens in particular her collection of Japanese Maples.

Was your home created with your garden in mind, or your garden created with your home in mind?

We wanted a home that we could appreciate our gardens from every window and a garden that wrapped around the house to complete the picture. Our home is extremely energy efficient through its design and construction and the gardens complete the efficiency using the selection of trees and shrubs to assist in the heating and cooling of the home.

You are experienced landscapers, what’s two pieces of advice you would give someone building with Tasbuilt about how to landscape their home?

Design your garden from both inside and outside so they compliment each other eg what you see when you throw back the blinds each morning.

From outside is how the home sits within the garden.

We love the everchanging garden landscape of Birch Grove, what delights your many visitors the most?

The way our home is part of the garden, and the seasonal change as we use a lot of deciduous trees and plants that cool the gardens and home during summer yet allowing warmth and sunlight over the winter months. The added bonus being the leaves provide a natural mulch for the gardens.

Apparently, any good garden design has a focal ‘starting point’, what’s yours?

We do not have a central focal point as such but rather our garden is designed from the one focal point (dining area) in a way that visitors walking in the gardens catch glimpses of the home looking back through the garden. The layout of the garden is designed so that when a visitor spots a plant across the gardens they have to take a journey to reach that point. During that journey they normally find many other little treasures tucked away.

Landscaping a new property can be expensive, any tips of budgeting?

Have a plan and work from the ground up. Visit lots of gardens and take lots of photos. Make it your garden and a garden that you can manage. Plants are expensive so do your research to ensure they are suitable to your location.

It is better to take time to develop your garden space rather than completion of an instant garden that will in most cases be expensive and really never be your garden.


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