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Spa Garden, Kent

Country elegance

This oak-framed swimming pool building and and spa area were designed and constructed to fulfil strict planning regulations on a Grade I listed house in an Area of Natural Beauty, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

A previously-empty area has been transformed into a spa and entertaining area, all wrapping round a new indoor swimming pool. Contemporary elements combined with classical details link the garden to the landscape beyond. Reclaimed York flagstones form a terrace large enough to hold a hundred people for parties. This large area is broken up with asymetrically-laid buxus and ilex crenata topiary. Box-pleached Carpinus betulus break the view of the swimming pool and gym roofs from the main house.

The steps leading down to this area are set between two large beds, filled with green and white planting: predominantly Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ , Rosa rugosa alba and Artemisia ‘ Lambrook Mist’. Foliage is of importance here: amongst the foliage planting here are Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’, Pittosporum tobira, Fatsia japonica and Viburnum cinnamomifolium.

Photography by Rachel Warne