Surfers Parade, Freshwater

The house had been renovated from the inside out. The garden was the last piece.

With three young kids, the clients knew what they needed. It had to be a safe place to play and somewhere to relax and have people over. It also had to be one garden that held it all together, not a set of separate zones.

The back garden

The builder’s new pool sits at the centre. We framed it with decking and planting so it belongs to the garden rather than dominating it. The deck runs as one continuous path from the alfresco area to the fire pit, tying each part of the garden together.

Lawn was non-negotiable. It had to be real grass, and enough of it to kick a ball, run around, and lie on after a swim. We laid Sir Walter Buffalo for its toughness and year-round performance in coastal conditions. It’s a lawn built for daily use.

The clients asked for a swing hung from the mature tree out the back, and it became the defining detail of the garden. A Corten-edged bed planted around the trunk frames the tree and gives the swing its own place.

A fire pit and outdoor gym give the adults their own corner, for evenings, conversation and slow weekend mornings. The kids’ space and the grown-ups’ space work side by side because each has its own ground.

The front garden

The front already had good bones. Two established Magnolia grandifloras frame the entry, with a white picket fence and mature hedging on both boundaries. The job was to sharpen it, not reinvent it.

A new cobblestone entry path picks up the stone around the pool. Stepping stones cross the lawn to a seating area and the western side of the house. Corten steel edging defines the beds, lawn and paths throughout. The nature strip lawn is now a garden bed, edged at the kerb.

A raised bed in H4 treated pine sleepers, stained black, holds a cantilevered Spotted Gum bench. It’s a casual place to sit out the front.

See more of our landscape design and landscape construction work.