Recycling a 100-year-old garden
The owners of this 300-year-old home set in the beautiful countryside of Amersham needed some ideas to revamp the front terrace. This project would require careful consideration to construct something fitting with the historic surroundings.Client Brief
The client called Karl in to advise on what could be done with their existing reclaimed York Stone terrace. This terrace wasn’t constructed incredibly well and over time became precarious, moss-covered and generally dangerous to walk on. The clients ultimately wanted to use this space to park up to 3 cars.
Recycling and Re-Using Landscaping Materials
Considering all the different new material options. What was staring Karl in the face was all the existing natural York Stone. It makes good sense that when something isn’t broken… Let’s not fix it. As a result, Karl and the team lifted all the existing York Stone, gave the stone a good clean up. From here they constructed a new subbase – about 22 tons of concrete – and relayed the paving using flow point for the pointing. The flow point is a non-permeable mortar. Further, around the edges of this arrangement, Karl even found some reclaimed bricks in the old imperial sizes to help match the stocks used on the house.Karl said – “Effectively what we have here is re, re-used, re-used and probably re-used again broken bits of York Stone in the style of crazy paving constructed in a modern technique. I think we have done something sympathetic to the property. The clients are properly happy with this, I think I’m happier.”
This is a garden, not a driveway
Once Karl and the team completed the works the clients quickly realised this space was too lovely to use as a driveway. They chose to move their dining furniture to this area and even added to the planting alongside the terrace. This is the space they come to spend their evenings when we get the right weather. In summary, you can achieve some fabulous finishes with reclaimed materials. They don’t have to be new. Using old materials in a different style, a different pattern and using modern techniques you can still achieve something that’s new and contemporary looking.Credits and Further Information
Location – Amersham Client – Private Completed – 2021 Materials – Recycled York StoneFollow Karl Harrison Landscapes Ltd to get all the latest project updates and of course behind the scenes!
