The Gate House

The project takes its name from its most striking landscaping feature, the gatehouse at the entrance to the home’s forecourt. The design of the gatehouse complements the home’s cedar clad gable forms whilst adding a sense of drama and arrival to the home, particularly when illuminated at night. The clients wanted the expansive gardens to be a restful sanctuary to counterbalance their busy working lives. The planting is composed primarily of large drifts of native reeds and grasses combined with drifts of exotic perennial, and evergreen grasses, which captures the slightest wind movement and provides dynamic seasonal interest in the garden. When viewed as a whole, the scale and form of the planting lends a painterly quality to the landscape that is particularly dramatic in the twilight hours. In response to the site’s climate and topography, a swale was carefully formed that encircled the main gardens to manage surface water in the winter and to help retain soil moisture into the dryer months, whilst also providing habitat for bird life. Gatehouse design and construction by Henry Blakely Landscapes.