A Family Garden Rooted in Edinburgh's Victorian Past

Internal works to the rear kitchen and dining area had created new openings onto the garden, and the outdoor space needed to respond. But the brief extended well beyond practical alignment with the building works.

The client wanted a garden that could hold multiple lives simultaneously: a dedicated area for basketball, quieter spaces for contemplation, and a setting generous enough for al fresco entertaining.

Designing for that breadth of use, on a site with real architectural heritage, required both spatial intelligence and a strong material vision.

Working with an established, well-loved garden always carries a responsibility to the history of the site. The team approached the project with a clear intent to retain and repurpose wherever possible.

Not everything could be saved. A mature magnolia tree, significant to the character of the existing garden, sat directly in conflict with the new design layout. Attempts to relocate it were made, but it did not survive the move.

It is the kind of loss that sharpens a designer's focus and underlines the importance of thoughtful material and planting choices in what follows.

The defining success of this project is the continuity it achieves between the renovated interior and the garden. New French windows were specified in a period-sympathetic cottage style, with multi-pane glazing that references the original 1900s architecture. The effect is a softness and visual coherence that works in both directions, whether you are looking back at the house from the garden or drawing your eye outward from within.

The choice of Sinai Pearl Beige Acid Washed Pre-Sealed Limestone Paving was central to this. Combined with a yellow-tinged gravel selected to complement the sandstone tones of the house, the palette has a warmth that performs especially well under Edinburgh's characteristically diffuse northern light. The brightness the stone brings is not a superficial finish choice; it is a considered response to the site's conditions.

Matching limestone steps reinforced the material connection across the different levels of the space, while the wider planting scheme drew on traditional plants and flowers to echo both the period of the house and the domestic scale of the garden.