Rupert Loftie
The common denominator that runs through my working life is the land: how we can use it beneficially and how we can protect it for future generations.
Following a career in environmental monitoring in the developing world, I spent 15 years in horticulture – advising, creating, maintaining and a lot of digging! Having successfully completed the Garden Design Diploma at the London College of Garden Design, I am now fulfilling a long-held ambition to become a garden designer.
My goal is to create gardens that are uplifting, engaging and personal – interpreting the dreams of my client.
Linkedin – www.linkedin.com/in/rupert-loftie-a5328214a/
The aim of this project was to:
• develop design thinking for a specific space and client
• to explore private garden spaces and level changes
• and to develop detailed construction design solutions in support of my proposed scheme.
The brief was to develop a design solution for a private garden in Ottershaw, Surrey. The house sits in a quiet suburban road with a small rear garden rising gently towards woodland and a small sloping front garden providing access to the garage and front door. The house was undergoing substantial refurbishment and extension and the gardens needed to reflect these new developments together with the aspirations of the client, which included:
• The woods beyond the garden as a borrowed landscape is key
• Garden must be secure
• Lawn not essential
• Log burner or fire pit
• Line of sight along central axis of house – entrance passage, sitting room, kitchen, garden – is important.
• Wants a designer garden, not a plantaholic garden
• Grasses, herbaceous, pots, evergreen for softening
• Must have backbone structure and look good year round
• Room for two cars off road.
• Shed for storage and possibly guest room
• Likes Belgian style of garden
• Water feature to cancel out ambient vehicle noise.
