Naismith
Set at the edge of Chapelton—a modern village built with a focus on community and thoughtful design—Naismith Drive offers stunning seaside views and a unique connection to nature. The area’s windswept landscape and sloping terrain presented both challenges and opportunities, inspiring a design that focuses on creating an outdoor space that complements the modern home while offering shelter, privacy, and beauty in equal measure.
The client's brief was clear: create a welcoming and functional garden that not only serves as a space for outdoor living but also addresses the prevailing winds and sloping banks around the property. The solution was to transform the muddy, featureless patch into a vibrant and engaging space full of texture and colour. At the heart of the garden lies a large circular patio made from dark grey clay pavers arranged in a herringbone pattern. The patio is perfect for large gatherings, seamlessly integrated with the contours of the land and offering a central point from which the garden flows.
To manage the sloping banks and provide shelter from the wind, we introduced corten steel retaining walls that curve gently around the garden, transforming the space into a secure, sunken retreat. These walls create a natural feeling of enclosure, offering both privacy and protection from the elements. Between the corten panels and the patio, tall ornamental planting adds height, movement, and seasonal colour, further enhancing the dynamic and inviting atmosphere of the garden.
The garden’s design also features a raised patio area, accessible directly from the living room’s French doors. This outdoor lounge area is perfect for evening relaxation, with a corten stove adding warmth and comfort while being surrounded by dense planting. A path leads from the patio to the rear door, guiding visitors past a corten water bowl and lush planting, offering a tranquil journey through the space. Wildflowers sown across the sloping banks and trees strategically planted for privacy and wind shelter complete the design, offering a harmonious blend of functionality and natural beauty.
"When we returned to Aberdeen from London after twenty two years, we left behind a really nice garden which we had developed once the kids stopped playing football. While we liked our new house very much, the garden was a major disappointment. It was a small town plot, which we couldn’t change.....
"We needed to undertake a major overhaul of our garden once our house was built. We did not really have a ‘vision’ and needed someone with the expertise in both design and knowledge of flora and fauna.....
"When we contacted Terra Foras our city centre back garden was overgrown, uneven, difficult to keep on top of and lacked a decent seating area. It was desperately needing a makeover on a big scale, so we knew we needed to get the professionals in.....
“Our garden was looking uncared for due to the structure of the garden making it difficult. It wasn't suitable to give our children the freedom to play in it with some features making it unsafe. We also didn’t have the time needed, to maintain it properly as it was.....
"It was Terra Foras’s design led approach and innovative thinking that attracted us to them. We hoped the garden redesign would create a visually exciting and very useable external space. This has, without question, been achieved.....
"When we returned to Aberdeen from London after twenty two years, we left behind a really nice garden which we had developed once the kids stopped playing football. While we liked our new house very much, the garden was a major disappointment. It was a small town plot, which we couldn’t change.....
"We needed to undertake a major overhaul of our garden once our house was built. We did not really have a ‘vision’ and needed someone with the expertise in both design and knowledge of flora and fauna.....
"When we contacted Terra Foras our city centre back garden was overgrown, uneven, difficult to keep on top of and lacked a decent seating area. It was desperately needing a makeover on a big scale, so we knew we needed to get the professionals in.....
“Our garden was looking uncared for due to the structure of the garden making it difficult. It wasn't suitable to give our children the freedom to play in it with some features making it unsafe. We also didn’t have the time needed, to maintain it properly as it was.....
"It was Terra Foras’s design led approach and innovative thinking that attracted us to them. We hoped the garden redesign would create a visually exciting and very useable external space. This has, without question, been achieved.....