Cotswold Garden Design with Swimming Pool
BRIEF
This large Cotswold country garden was designed during the exceptionally hot summer of 2022, when one of our client’s priorities was perhaps unsurprisingly a swimming pool.
The brief also included a pool building where the family could change easily and spend time together around the pool.
Although the property is in a relatively secluded countryside setting, the garden adjoins a churchyard, so achieving privacy without making the pool area feel enclosed was important.
The garden needed to work for adults wanting to relax and entertain while remaining family-friendly.
The site lies within a conservation area and contained a significant number of mature trees. Retaining as many of these as possible was both an important design objective and part of respecting the established character of the site.
The clients also wanted an area for growing fruit and vegetables, together with a greenhouse.
Several existing outbuildings did not relate particularly well to one another, while pieces of children’s play equipment dominated parts of the garden.
Finally, the orientation of the house and extensive mature tree canopy created significant areas of shade, so positioning the main outdoor spaces to capture the available sunlight was a key part of the brief.
DESIGN SOLUTION
We developed more than one option for the position of the swimming pool, including a scheme with the pool closer to the house and another further down the garden.
The preferred design positioned it further away, nestled amongst the mature trees.
This allowed us to retain most of the existing trees while orientating the swimming pool and pool house to maximise both sunlight and privacy from the neighbouring churchyard.
Hardwood timber ‘fins’ of varying heights provide partial screening around the pool. Their changing profile was designed to evoke the form of the surrounding hills rather than creating a uniform screen.
These fins also provide separation between the pool environment and the large lawn used by the family for football.
In this lower part of the garden, the existing outbuildings were repositioned. A Wendy House was used to help screen a nearby trampoline, integrating the children’s equipment more successfully into the overall landscape.
The planting here becomes much more naturalistic. A mixture of wildflower and ornamental meadow is allowed to naturalise around winding mown paths, creating a journey through the mature trees and flower meadow.
Closer to the house, the character changes. We created a more cultivated and structured walled garden containing a bespoke pergola with both dining and seating areas, together with additional informal seating nearer the house. A separate lounge area was positioned specifically to capture afternoon and evening sun. Pleached trees around this space introduce a more formal character and create a deliberate contrast with the looser meadow landscape elsewhere.
The result is a large country garden with several distinct atmospheres — pool, play, meadow, productive garden and more formal entertaining spaces — held together as one coherent landscape.
We really enjoyed designing this garden – especially as it was in the middle of a heat wave! If you don’t have the space or budget for a swimming pool, you could consider a lap pool, such as the one that was included within this Berkshire garden. What ever dreams you may have for your garden, we would love to talk to you about how we might be able to realise them for you. If you would like to discuss you project with us contact us here.
