Thoroughly Modern Mill Garden

Classic good looks with a modern twist provide a new take on the cottage garden style.

- Tim Rumball

STADDLESTONES is a cottage garden with an exciting modern twist – neat, colourful, carefully thought out and beautifully maintained. The house is part of a modern housing development built on the site of an old paper mill. “We moved here seven years ago from Stratford on Avon,” says Richard Lockwood. “When we arrived the back garden had an attractive curve of pleached limes giving some privacy to the seating area near the house, but the rest was just lawn with a skinny border down the left hand side.

“We knew what we wanted – big borders with colour themes, yellow, blue and white on the left, and pink, purple and orange on the right. The lawn is a lot narrower now. We’ve recently had it edged with brick along each border – it makes mowing so much easier.”