Landscape Design
Patio of the Week
Yard of the Week: Elegant Curves in an Accessible Backyard
A landscape designer creates an inviting, wheelchair-friendly space in England for playing, entertaining and gardening
Designer Terrey Maufe created a beautiful landscape on the outskirts of Bristol, England, that works hard for the family that lives there. Not only does the multilevel space provide variety, but it’s also wonderful to admire from inside the house and has a large patio for dining, a generous kitchen and a cut-flower garden. The yard is enjoyable for the both the homeowners and their 6-year-old daughter, and is wheelchair-accessible for one of the parents.
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After: The yard now features a wheelchair-accessible path (edged by the white walls seen here on the right) that slopes up from the patio and curves all the way around a central lawn. The path is bordered on the left by vegetable- and fruit-growing bays next to shallow, Cor-Ten-steel-edged steps.
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A circular lawn, which was a loose element of the original yard, was central to the design. “We crisped up [the original lawn] and relandscaped it,” Maufe says. The central lawn anchors the design within the kite-shaped yard, and other features radiate out from it.
These photos show the original bumpy path, at top, alongside the new design, seen from the top of the slope.
Before: A patio previously sat next to the house.
Before: A recent addition to the home ate into most of the original patio. It had to be dug out to create a new patio level with the house.
The job originally came to Maufe after she met the DHV architects who had designed the addition, at a Houzz networking event. “I’d worked on a [landscape] at another property they’d designed,” she says, “and I recognized them.” They recommended Maufe to the homeowners.
Maufe designed the area to be big enough for family dining and barbecues, and to provide generous circulation space, allowing for comfortable movement around the patio in a wheelchair. Smooth porcelain tiles cover the surface. Wide steps provide an alternative route up to the lawn and are roughly in line with the patio doors on the home’s new addition.
Dropped planting beds in front of the lawn are an important detail. Maufe wanted plantings that wouldn’t block the view of the rest of the landscape from the house or patio. “The Cor-Ten steel allowed us to create planting[s] at lawn level rather than above it, meaning you can see beyond it,” she says.
What to Know About Adding a Patio
The job originally came to Maufe after she met the DHV architects who had designed the addition, at a Houzz networking event. “I’d worked on a [landscape] at another property they’d designed,” she says, “and I recognized them.” They recommended Maufe to the homeowners.
Maufe designed the area to be big enough for family dining and barbecues, and to provide generous circulation space, allowing for comfortable movement around the patio in a wheelchair. Smooth porcelain tiles cover the surface. Wide steps provide an alternative route up to the lawn and are roughly in line with the patio doors on the home’s new addition.
Dropped planting beds in front of the lawn are an important detail. Maufe wanted plantings that wouldn’t block the view of the rest of the landscape from the house or patio. “The Cor-Ten steel allowed us to create planting[s] at lawn level rather than above it, meaning you can see beyond it,” she says.
What to Know About Adding a Patio
The boundary with the interior is flush, thanks to the use of composite decking, which mirrors the cedar-clad overhang above (see next photo). Because it’s not a natural material, the decking won’t expand or contract. This allowed Maufe to leave gaps between the boards and to install a linear drain beneath to prevent any damp-related issues.
Maufe added flower beds right next to the addition’s two floor-to-ceiling windows, one of which can be seen here (the other is just out of shot on the right). “Because the terrace is quite generous, this helps to make the garden feel much closer to the house,” she says.
Plantings here include blue allium (Allium caeruleum), ‘Silver Mist’ English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Silver Mist’), ‘Kashmir White’ cranesbill (Geranium clarkei ‘Kashmir White’) and ‘Little Spire’ Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’).
Just beyond the first lawn, you can see a shady spot where the original swings (seen in the first photo) have been repositioned. “The daughter has lots of cousins who come over, and her mother was keen to let her have a space that we left alone in which she could hide and dig and make a mess. It’s often [about] what you don’t do more than what you do do to make a [landscape] child-friendly,” Maufe says.
Plantings here include blue allium (Allium caeruleum), ‘Silver Mist’ English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Silver Mist’), ‘Kashmir White’ cranesbill (Geranium clarkei ‘Kashmir White’) and ‘Little Spire’ Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’).
Just beyond the first lawn, you can see a shady spot where the original swings (seen in the first photo) have been repositioned. “The daughter has lots of cousins who come over, and her mother was keen to let her have a space that we left alone in which she could hide and dig and make a mess. It’s often [about] what you don’t do more than what you do do to make a [landscape] child-friendly,” Maufe says.
Along the side of the patio is a narrow border. “Because it’s quite shady, we put in white foxgloves, white alliums and plants with variegated leaves to lighten up and lift this space,” the designer says.
An ash, a sycamore and an apple tree are among the trees that are visible but on the other side of the fence. “Height is really hard to achieve if you’re starting from scratch, so trees beyond the boundary can be as much a part of a garden [as the new plantings],” Maufe says.
An ash, a sycamore and an apple tree are among the trees that are visible but on the other side of the fence. “Height is really hard to achieve if you’re starting from scratch, so trees beyond the boundary can be as much a part of a garden [as the new plantings],” Maufe says.
The husband-father homeowner is Dutch, and for this reason the color palette includes a lot of orange, an important color with a long history in the Netherlands. It features not only in the plantings but also in the Cor-Ten steel, a weathering steel that has a protective rust surface.
“The overall color theme is coppers, oranges and bronzes,” Maufe says. “These are set off with purples and mauves. They are at opposite ends of the color spectrum, so they really zing together.”
The warm-tone plants include orange tulips, ‘Sweet Tea’ heucherella (Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’), ‘Everflame’ red hook sedge (Uncinia rubra ‘Everflame’) and ‘Tom Thumb’ kōhūhū (Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’). The cooler-colored sections include rosemary, lavender, lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and catmint (Nepeta racemosa).
“The overall color theme is coppers, oranges and bronzes,” Maufe says. “These are set off with purples and mauves. They are at opposite ends of the color spectrum, so they really zing together.”
The warm-tone plants include orange tulips, ‘Sweet Tea’ heucherella (Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’), ‘Everflame’ red hook sedge (Uncinia rubra ‘Everflame’) and ‘Tom Thumb’ kōhūhū (Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’). The cooler-colored sections include rosemary, lavender, lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and catmint (Nepeta racemosa).
“The mixed natural native hedge was already there and borders arable land,” Maufe says of the hedge seen at the back of this view.
Also visible here are two existing multistemmed silver birch trees; Maufe added one more to make a trio. A planting arc including catmint and lavender makes for a hazy purple display.
A straight path leads off the circle to a bench. “This is a west-facing space with a fire pit in the center,” Maufe says, adding that it’s a great spot to enjoy the sunset (perhaps with a drink in hand).
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Also visible here are two existing multistemmed silver birch trees; Maufe added one more to make a trio. A planting arc including catmint and lavender makes for a hazy purple display.
A straight path leads off the circle to a bench. “This is a west-facing space with a fire pit in the center,” Maufe says, adding that it’s a great spot to enjoy the sunset (perhaps with a drink in hand).
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The small lawn is perfect for the homeowners’ little girl. “It’s really accessible from a child’s point of view,” Maufe says. “It was also a good way of creating a block of green close to the house.”
Maufe created another, smaller circular lawn at the top of the shallow steps and adjacent to the accessible path, as seen on this plan. “This satellite lawn is a more intimate space, somewhere it would be really nice to have a picnic,” Maufe says.
This view is from just in front of the bench and fire pit.
To keep the lawns looking pristine, Maufe installed an automatic lawn-mowing system. “It’s so clever,” she says. “It comes out once a day and takes off 1 millimeter, depending on the rainfall. It follows its own random pattern, so you don’t get lines across the grass.
“It’s guided by wires beneath and around the edges of the lawn, so it’s best to design for this sort of technology at the outset,” she says, “though it can potentially be added retrospectively.”
To keep the lawns looking pristine, Maufe installed an automatic lawn-mowing system. “It’s so clever,” she says. “It comes out once a day and takes off 1 millimeter, depending on the rainfall. It follows its own random pattern, so you don’t get lines across the grass.
“It’s guided by wires beneath and around the edges of the lawn, so it’s best to design for this sort of technology at the outset,” she says, “though it can potentially be added retrospectively.”
A look back toward the house. The flowers in the foreground are the result of a seed bomb that one of the homeowners planted as an interim measure before she had time to plan a full vegetable patch.
Gray block pavers divide the resin-bound gravel and visually signal there is a slope.
A corner of the barbecue is visible on the right next to a bay tree; all the herb growing also happens at this level. “The idea was that you could just grab a handful to chuck onto the barbecue,” Maufe says.
12 Essential Herbs for Your Edible Garden
Gray block pavers divide the resin-bound gravel and visually signal there is a slope.
A corner of the barbecue is visible on the right next to a bay tree; all the herb growing also happens at this level. “The idea was that you could just grab a handful to chuck onto the barbecue,” Maufe says.
12 Essential Herbs for Your Edible Garden
Before: The same view as above before the redesign.
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Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A family of three, including a girl of 6 and a wheelchair user
Location: Long Ashton, on the outskirts of Bristol, England
Size: The corner plot is kite-shaped; it measures 118 feet (36 meters) at its widest point and is 135 feet (41 meters) long
Landscape designer: Terrey Maufe of Outerspace Creative Landscaping
Before: “It was only one step away from the fields beyond,” Maufe says of the previous yard, meaning that not a lot of landscaping had been done.
“It was an established garden with a lumpy lawn and very compromised pathways, where roots had lifted up some sections,” the designer says. “There were trip hazards everywhere and, even for an able-bodied person, it wasn’t easy to get around or look after.” It wasn’t ideal for the homeowners, a working family with a small child and one parent reliant on a wheelchair to get around.
To help all of her clients find inspiration, Maufe likes to direct them to ideabooks she’s put together on her Houzz profile; the ideabooks contain ideas on topics ranging from boundary treatments to material applications. “It can help clients to get their heads around an idea,” she says.