Craven Lodge, the head offices of Rushbond PLC, forms part of the Harrogate conservation area. It is an imposing double-fronted dwelling and was the first Victorian villa to be built on the site. After many years of disuse, a full renovation of the property took place to change the building from its recent office use, into a mix of commercial offices and luxury apartments.

We are delighted to have been involved in the design and creation of three separate garden spaces for this renovation. The client brief was to provide colourful and year-round interest in the new borders around the front entrance of the lodge itself, which we did through a combination of Yew topiary, a mix of long lasting and traditional style perennial planting, and a vibrant bulb layer to provide early season form and colour within the borders. A private side garden was intended to be a secluded space for entertaining guests and clients, so a more exotic scheme involving tall bamboos planted along the roadside perimeter wall, interwoven with peach coloured climbing roses, scented shrubs and perennials, and a Dicksonia tree provide a suitable setting. A further garden space towards the rear of the property acts as a courtyard garden and entrance for a private apartment which contains Hydrangea, Sweet Box, hardy shade-loving perennials, and a mix of different grasses to provide interest and a sense of year-round structure upon arrival. Privacy and screening from road and pedestrian traffic around the sites perimeters are provided in the shape of established evergreen Yew hedging, elegant pleached Hornbeam, and exotic bamboos, all of which sit wonderfully against the aged Yorkshire stone of the walling and original style steel railings.

In a bid to further increase the projects’ green credentials, and to add a further degree of privacy to the frontage, a 22-metre trench was planned to provide adequate shared rooting volume for four, 3-metre-high Hornbeam ‘Frans Fontaine’ trees. These stunning trees retain their columnar shape into maturity and are an excellent choice to provide a classic architectural shape and beautiful colour, especially in Autumn. This project was the first use of the Treeparker cell system in North Yorkshire, see case study here for further details.