Projects · Connecting everyday spaces

South Lodge

A more welcoming arrival.
A garden that feels part of home.

A new porch makes for a warmer welcome. Beyond it, a planted terrace brings dining and places to sit closer to the house, with an overall plan allowing the garden to develop in stages.

Home and garden design · Porch and entrance · Levels and materials · Planting · Technical detailing

Entrance and patio completed · Pool phase planned

Planning and permissions ↓

The country house with its redesigned garden terrace, planted borders and connected route to the doors. — The house and garden brought together through places to sit, planting and more direct routes.

A better way in

Turn an awkward threshold into a welcoming entrance

The earlier entrance was reached by a sequence of timber steps between raised beds. The new porch gives the doorway a clearer presence, with glazed double doors and a broader flight of stone-topped steps.

Matching brickwork, restrained detailing and planting allow the addition to feel connected to the existing home. The change is modest in size, but significant in the everyday experience of arriving and leaving.

Before: a single garden door reached by several timber steps between raised planting beds. — Before — a confined doorway and stepped approach.

After: the new painted-brick porch with glazed double doors, stone-topped steps and surrounding planting. — After — a more generous entrance, settled into the house and garden.

Planning and permissions

Understand the route before building

A certificate of lawful proposed development, issued in January 2023, confirmed the permitted-development route for the small rear extension. It also confirmed that the internal garage works did not require planning permission.

Establishing that route gave the owners a clear basis for the building work, alongside the design of the entrance and garden.

The wider plan

Make individual changes add up

The plan brings dining, cooking, seating and routes through the garden together. Keeping planting and gravel between the paved areas gives each space a purpose without losing the feeling of a garden.

An overall plan gives each improvement its place, allowing the work to develop as the family’s needs and priorities change. The entrance and patio are complete; the pool phase remains for the future.

Sketch-plan detail showing the porch, dining terrace, seating and routes into the garden. — Sketch-plan detail: planting and gravel separate dining and seating while keeping the spaces connected. Enlarge the plan ↗

Room to enjoy the garden

Bring planting into the places people use

Brick paving, stone, gravel and timber give the terrace its structure. Planting softens those edges and creates a closer, more intimate setting for the dining table and built-in seating.

Keeping planting and gravel within the arrangement avoids turning the whole area into a hard paved platform. Materials and levels connect the doors with the terrace and lawn, while the benches make a place to stop along the way.

A closer autumn view of timber corner seating among flowering borders, with the dining terrace and timber-topped counter beyond. — A place to sit among the planting, with dining and the house close by.