A busy, professional couple and their teenage children had just added a new, crisp glass extension and wanted a soft, naturalistic and understated garden as a backdrop and to enjoy throughout the year.

The garden is largely shady. It descends and links to a second, previously unused space. The design is based on a series of generous steps, which stagger to the second garden, opening the long view to the secret garden beyond. Stepping, water filled metal troughs draw the eye and add reflective calm. Structural mounds, carpeting evergreens and tactile grasses are joined by white flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants to offer interest throughout the year.

Shown in its first September.