Faith in the future

Marian Boswall's contemporary design for the garden of a former chapel respects the property's history while looking to the future

-  HANNAH GARDNER

Chapel House is an intriguing and unusual property with a rich ecclesiastical history. A Grade II-listed congregational chapel and manse, it's set in a secluded rural valley on the edge of the Cotswolds, close to an old Roman road, the Fosse Way. When interior designer Sheena Murphy, the founder of Studio Nune, bought the property, the chapel and manse, set just 1m apart, had already been meticulously restored and linked by a modern glass walkway, designed by Mark Wray Architects.

Specialist builders and craftspeople with keen attention to detail had set a high design bar, but there was work to do in the garden. The construction phase had taken its toll, and the re-worked living space had to regain its sense of place in the landscape while respecting its historic role as a chapel and graveyard.

Sheena and her husband had fond memories of the unmanicured wild landscapes in upstate New York and wanted their young daughter to grow up close to nature. So they turned to landscape architect Marian Boswall, who has a reputation for creating beautiful landscapes with long-term sustainability, to create a garden that would connect the house to its history and the surrounding landscape.