Cotswold C17th farmhouse with topiary, trees and oxeye daisy meadow. A large cypress tree and native birch tree feature too

Wiltshire Farmhouse Garden
Wraparound farmhouse gardens

When our clients moved into their 17th-century farmhouse near Bradford on Avon, they inherited the challenge of harmonising that legacy with a contemporary renovation. Our brief was to design a garden in three distinct stages, each responding to a different face of the house.

The Front Garden

The approach to the house began at the threshold with a tactile gravel garden, soft planting fraying gradually until it dissolves into a wildflower meadow - deliberate and true to the farmhouse's rural setting. Threading through this space, a serpentine hedge of Phillyrea angustifolia draws the eye from one focal point to the next, like a ribbon. A low drystone wall, built in keeping with local vernacular, works alongside a line of pleached trees to form a living screen for privacy. Near the house's existing water feature, we introduced small maze hedges and statement topiary, adding to the quiet formality. At the top of the garden, a circular stone seating area offers a place to reflect, before stone steps lead visitors down into the wildflower meadow below.

Stage Two: The Side Garden

To the side of the house, a stretch of the original farmhouse concrete has been carefully preserved and repurposed, leading the visitor onward into a newly laid patio - a mix between old and new.

Hornbeams frame this space, while the planting beneath is deliberately restrained: ferns, ornamental Carex grasses, and wood asters bring texture and quiet movement. The borders flanking the path are a lively, fragrant mix of culinary herbs and edible flowers bringing colour and scent.

Stage Three: The Paradise Garden

Here, the client's Egyptian heritage became a guiding inspiration. Glazed green tiles from Otto and water feature from Pots and Pithoi bring texture and and sound to the courtyard, with doors and windows painted green. Exotic planting in a rich palette of reds, oranges and browns creates a sun-soaked atmosphere.

What has emerged is a peaceful and thriving habitat, with three distinct spaces. Our wonderful clients share their garden with hares, stoats, dormice, voles and owls. Ongoing maintenance and habitat development by gardener, Grace, continues to ensure the garden grows wilder and more diverse.

See Paradise Garden Project

Digital rendering of a garden with various flowers, shrubs, and decorative structures, including an arched doorway, a fountain, and a large vertical element on the right, against a black background.
Three tier topiary in front of historical farmhouse property with iris and euphorbia
C17th farmhouse with meadow, iris, pleached hornbeam trees and Hay garden furniture
Verdant garden with meadow, large tiered water feature, preached hornbeam trees and medlar fruit tree

“A design that delighted us and then a reality that exceeded all expectations.”

Sophie

Gravel garden with euphorbia, melianthus, iris and medlar tree
Aerial view of C17th farmhouse garden with meadow, gravel garden, tiered water feature and large topiary
Topiary, meadow concrete water bowl for the birds and Sicilian camomile
Reclaimed yorkstone steps set in to meadow
Circular lawn surrounded by meadow with steps leading up to small orchard and stone circle
Woodland edge shady planting at the back of the garden
Woodland edge planting with log edged grass path
A charming outdoor garden brick terrace with a round table and four black chairs, surrounded by pleached trees and white flowering bushes, next to a rustic stone building with white window frames.
Herb garden with planters and brick terrace
Hay garden furniture and brick pavers with herbs outside kitchen door
Kitchen courtyard garden from above with green Hay furniture, pleached trees, herbs, planters and reclaimed concrete path
Proposed garden design sketch for the kitchen courtyard off C17th grade 2 listed farmhouse

Design and build
Eaglestone Gardens

Planting design
Eaglestone Gardens

Gardener
Grace Axon Gardens

Photography
Eva Nemeth & Tom Eaglestone

Drone photography
Tom Eaglestone

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