Best First-Time Entrant

Special Awards are discretionary and are selected by the adjudication panel from amongst the category Award Winners and can vary from year to year.

Matt nichol mbali - special AWard WINNER 2018

tranquil cheshire garden

The brief was to create a masterplan for the front and rear gardens of a modern detached property in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The clients, a retired couple, wanted a low maintenance, contemporary garden, with a strong focus on clean lines but with plenty of seasonal interest.

The hard landscaping needed to accommodate afternoon and evening entertaining, with consideration to the movement of the sun during the day. The clients specified different areas of seating for different functions and modern features including a fire table and a piece of sculpture.

The high quality paving was to be sleek but robust. One of the driving elements of the garden style was the furniture, which needed to reflect the modern interior and exterior of the house. The planting was to be unusual but very ‘neat and tidy’, with plenty of evergreen structure, coloured foliage and some flowering interest.