I had a treat on Friday when I got to nose around some beautiful houses in south west London, on Livingetc magazine’s house tours, with thanks to sponsors ao.com. Together with a group of other bloggers, we got taken around four of the seven homes, and this lush garden space was one of my favourites of the day. The home (which belongs to fabric and accessories designer Neisha Crosland), is a former stables that has been converted to form a two-storey, L-shaped apartment wrapped around a garden oasis in the heart of London, complete with cobblestones, rustic pots of frothy ferns, big planters of herbs and huge vines climbing up the walls of the house. Because the garden is at the heart of the building, the views out of all the windows indoors are of plants and greenery so it’s like being in the countryside rather than in the bustling city, and it felt so calm and tranquil. Maybe it’s because I’ve got gardens on my mind as we’re in the middle of finishing off our garden project but I wished I could just stay there in the sunshine all day.
The chunky concrete shelf (with handy cupboards underneath) is piled with a huge collection of rustic pots planted up with all sorts of succulents and ferns. I loved the generosity of the display, and all the different textures and shades of foliage. I immediately added ferns to my plant wish list for my shopping trip first thing the next morning.
I adore olive trees – they’re such a pleasing shape, and I love the soft, delicate green of their leaves. Plus, they remind me of being on holiday somewhere hot and sunny.
Antique mirrors lined up along the garden wall not only add a sense of romantic grandeur to the space with their distressed glass and rusted frames, but they’re also a really clever well to create the illusion of a bigger space, and that the garden continues beyond its borders. And hydrangeas. One of my all-time favourite flowers. I definitely need to grow these in our garden.
I’ll be researching whether there’s a spot on our house for a large, lush vine. It lent a magical, enchanted feel to the garden, and also wound its way across the house’s front exterior. It’s a great way to soften the hard edges of the walls surrounding a courtyard or the front aspect of a house
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