Meandering palettes

As befits one of the oldest homes in Westcliff, the gracious 3-acre (1.2ha) gardens echo the era of the early 1900’s with their flower-filled borders, dovecote and rolling lawns. But that only tells half the story.

- Alice Spenser-Higgs

The soft colour of Westcliffrock makes its presence felt throughout the garden, culminating in a cliff-edged koppie that creates the context for graceful ornamental grasses, sculptural aloes and pockets of succulents.

Blending the past and the present, dreamy greenness with sun-baked reality, has been a work of artistry, stonemasonry and hard labour by mother and son landscaping team Liz and Tim Steyn. Today’s perfection is the culmination of almost nine years of work and, of course, it is always a work in progress.

When Liz and Tim were commissioned, the property consisted of many large trees past their prime, visible rocky outcrops and a house set well back from the view with a single expanse of lawn to the cliff-edge.

The brief

The clients wanted a garden to match the style of the house, originally designed by Sir Herbert Baker as stables for the main house. Besides lots of colour and interest, they wanted the garden to have a sense of design without being too formal. The husband made an interesting request: to be able to stroll through the garden with business associates, having experienced similar meetings overseas that were conducted while walking through beautiful gardens. The pathways needed to vary in length, to accommodate varying levels of fitness!

Getting started

Liz and Tim didn’t rush into the project but spent a long time on the design. “I thought and thought about it,” admits Liz, “Tim and I would toss ideas around and out of that came creative solutions.”

Breaking down the property into manageable sections, they designed a series of interlinking gardens (each with their own character). Next was the structural work: levelling, drainage, irrigation, lighting and hardscaping using local stone.