After ceasing the agricultural activities on this farm in de Betuwe, the new owners have refurbished the agricultural farm into a residential farm. The barns and stables have been demolished leaving the rear part of the courtyard a big open space with a manure gutter. The desire of the owners was to incorporate an ecological swimming pond, a terrace located at the rear of the house, several borders and a meadow full of flowers.
The residential farm has been refurbished while maintaining its authentic details. The garden also contains multiple references to the former agricultural function of the farm. Among other things this includes a meadow with short trimmed grass and a herb and vegetable garden. Slantwise to the house is an (existing) formal garden. Adjoining this garden is a fruit orchard filled with bush apple trees and grapes.
The lay-out of the garden ensures that with the increasing distance from the house, the garden gets a more natural character. This is a transition from cultivated to natural. By using decorative grasses in the various plant boxes, a reference is made to the rural location of the premises.
Directly behind the house, a deepened terrace has been created. The terrace follows the shape of the barn that used to occupy this space. The subsurface has been made up of half hardness Gravier d’or. The manure gutter has remained and has been transformed into a water element. The terrace has been fitted with two plant boxes, which contains feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) and year round green knotweed (Persicaria affinis ‘Superba’). The parking space is fenced off through the use of high eulalia (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’). The plant boxes in front of the facade of the house contain low plants like astrantia (Astrantia ‘Hadspen Blood’) and red leaved alum root (Heuchera x micrantha ‘Palace Purple’).
Behind the annex, which is partly in use as office space, there is a secluded path that has various species of ferns panted at both edges. The head end of the barn borders the terrace with swimming pond.
The water in the swimming pond is naturally cleaned by using a helophyte filter; a low growing swamp area in which cane and oxygen plants grow. This way the swimming area of the pond remains clear of any vegetation. The pond is surrounded by a wooden platform. Hedges of yew borders the adjacent land and ensures complete privacy.
The backside of the garden is made up of a wild flower meadow, that marks the transition to the surrounding landscape.
Client: Private
Project type: Garden Design
