The Summit

Private Residence

Location: Penn, Buckinghamshire

Client: Private Client

Status: Completed

The site is on the edge of Beaconsfield and enjoys impressive views across largely rural countryside. The existing house was relatively new but had been finished to a poor standard and was undergoing extensive modernisation, including a major extension with a pool in the basement.

This presented an opportunity to completely reshape the existing limited landscaping. We removed a few unsightly conifers and added a significant number of specimen trees around the plot. These included a feature avenue on the driveway, some striking parrotia specimens in the main borders, and a stunning set of mature box headed lime trees around the fire pit.

We replaced a grim blockwork driveway and roundabout at the entrance with a gorgeous entrance experience leading to a contemporary sweeping paved drive and avenue of trees. This led to a wide pedestrian access to the newly reshaped front door, bounded with generous planting beds softening the front of the house, and then to paths to the side of the house leading to a generous raised rear terrace, with a large separate firepit area.

The large rear raised terrace has an elevated feel and set of views, but needed to feel comfortable and not bleak, so this is broken up with raised planters featuring a mix of grasses simple planting and hedging. The lower basement terrace is broken up into a series of steps leading up to the ground level, again with planting in between to break up the spaces and provide some enclosed seating and lounging areas.

The major rear retaining wall was clad with natural stone, providing a magnificent foil for the planting, and separating this more contemporary space from the very traditional architecture of the main house.

Overall this is a major transformation on a significant scale. It was hampered by being carried out largely during lock-down, but the heroic clients and building teams have managed to bring it to a wonderful conclusion.

If you would like to find out more about this complex build take a look at The Summit blog

Service offered: Design, Landscaping

For more projects completed by our Design team click here

CGLA are an award winning team of Landscape Architects, Garden Designers  Landscapers and Garden Maintenance Operatives working in Buckinghamshire, London and the South East, as well as on prestigious design projects across the UK and abroad. We are currently working in Oman, Jersey and France, and welcome enquires for design, landscaping or garden maintenance. Contact us here