The Barns, West Sussex

Contemporary courtyard gardens

This design blends modern and traditional in two courtyard gardens nestled within converted barns in the West Sussex countryside. The site is home to a company specialising in the sale of authentic Cretan pots.

Materials are restrained but applied in exciting combinations. The minimalist, low maintenance planting provides year-round structure and interest, with a fiery autumn display.

The design harmoniously blends old and new, while celebrating the agricultural heritage of the site.

Sawn sandstone paving and walling pick up the material used on existing farm buildings. The sandstone is combined with corten steel to create abstracted rectilinear water features that repeat in the courtyards, weaving through minimalist blocks of beech hedging and ornamental grass.

The existing barns are clad with charred timber, which is also used for boundary fencing. The fencing is designed with a steel inlay detail for added interest.

Pleached beech trees provide boundary screening, while multi-stem sumac trees help to shape space within the courtyards, both contributing to a spectacular autumn display.