Contemporary Garden Design in Kennington Near Oxford

This garden in Kennington, near Oxford, runs alongside a contemporary timber-clad house on the edge of Bagley Wood. Because you walk beside the garden as you approach the front door, it was important that it felt connected to the house rather than like a separate strip of planting beside it.

When I first saw it, most of the space was grass with a few shrubs dotted around. One side was overlooked by a neighbouring house, while the back of the garden met the woodland and already felt much softer. The front needed more structure, but I didn’t want that to make it feel too formal or disconnected from the trees behind it.

The Brief for This Kennington Garden

The clients wanted the entrance to feel more inviting and also liked the idea of being able to walk through the garden rather than always following the main route to the house. They preferred simple planting and wanted the garden to suit the contemporary style of the property without trying too hard to match it.

The house already had timber cladding with touches of yellow, so that gave me something to respond to when thinking about the planting. I wanted the garden to feel bright and open, while still being calm enough to work beside the woodland.

Working With the House and Bagley Wood

The front and back of the garden needed slightly different treatment. Closer to the house, the planting could be more structured because this was the part people saw as they arrived, while towards Bagley Wood it made more sense to let things become looser and more natural.

Privacy also needed some thought because of the neighbouring house, although I didn’t want to deal with that by putting in something heavy that would close the garden in. The planting needed to provide some screening while still allowing the space to feel open.

Creating an Informal Path Through the Garden

The clients wanted to be able to walk through the garden occasionally, so I used plank-style pavers to create a meandering route through the planting rather than putting in a solid path.

Gravel fills the spaces between the pavers and planting grows into some of the gaps, which makes the path feel less formal and allows it to disappear into the garden a little. It gives the clients another way to move through the space and also makes the approach to the front door more interesting.

Simple Planting for a Contemporary Garden

The planting was kept quite simple, with blocks of two main types of plants repeated through the garden. Tall grasses were important because they brought some movement into the space and kept the planting feeling light, while smaller areas of colour gave the garden some seasonal change without making it too busy.

This worked well with the house because the planting softened some of the harder lines of the building without hiding them. As you move towards the woodland, the grasses also help the garden feel less formal, so the change between the house and Bagley Wood happens more gradually.

A Contemporary Garden in Kennington Beside Bagley Wood

What I like most about the finished garden is the path through the planting because it gives the space another purpose rather than simply being something you walk past on the way to the house. The repeated planting keeps the garden design simple, while the grasses give it enough movement that it never feels static.

The materials are simple and the planting is deliberately restrained, which suits both the house and the woodland setting. As the garden has filled out, the approach to the front door feels much more connected to the rest of the property and the edge of Bagley Wood beyond it.