In At The Deep End

Fitting a swimming pool into a triangular plot, with a brief to lose all the angles, presented garden designer Bart Hoes with a challenge.

- Simone Van Heiningen

At the southern tip of the Zuid- Kennemerland National Park, in the Netherlands, the villas of Aerdenhout nestle comfortably in their leafy surroundings. They are close enough to Amsterdam for an easy commute, yet distant enough for peace and tranquillity, with the beach a mere bike ride away. No wonder these properties, mostly built in the 1920s and 1930s, sell at a premium, and Aerdenhout consistently ranks as the wealthiest village in the Netherlands.

When the architect-owner of one of those villas moved in some 15 years ago, it took a while before he turned his attention to the awkward area at the east end of his garden that had been neglected for decades. A Taxus baccata hedge screened it off nicely from the traditional set-up of lawn, borders, shrubs and trees around the house, so the ‘jungle’ beyond had been easy to disregard.