Cottage Garden

A multi level cottage garden in Amberley, West Sussex, reworking levels and planting to create a calm, refined garden for a Grade II listed house.

Amberley Garden Design – A Contemporary Cottage Garden for a Listed Village House

This contemporary cottage garden in Amberley, West Sussex sits alongside a prominent Grade II listed house on The Square, occupying an elevated position within the village. During extensive renovations and restorations to the property, we were brought in to reimagine the garden, creating a more cohesive and enjoyable outdoor experience.

While the existing plot had strong foundations, including retaining walls built from local Amberley stone, a pronounced cross fall made the garden feel awkward, unbalanced, and difficult to use. The brief was to streamline the layout, soften level changes, and create a garden that felt calm, refined, and suited to both everyday family life and entertaining.

A new garden room and studio by Malvern Garden Buildings was introduced as a contemporary addition, carefully positioned to reinforce cleaner sightlines and bring clarity to the overall layout. At the lower level, the kitchen terrace was transformed with generous planting at the base of the retaining walls, using hydrangeas, ferns, and other shade-loving plants to soften the stonework and create a lush, sheltered atmosphere.

An existing magnolia was brought into its own through the creation of a new dining terrace beneath its canopy, offering a beautiful and seasonal focal point. Elsewhere in the garden, planting is deliberately restrained and elegant, combining perennials, ornamental grasses, and low evergreen shrubs to provide structure and year-round interest.

Hakonechloa macra is a standout feature, forming billowing mounds of fresh green foliage that bring movement and softness throughout the garden. A carefully relocated Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’, complemented by the addition of Rhus ‘Tiger Eyes’, adds depth, colour, and seasonal drama.

The finished garden is a relaxed, sensory retreat, perfectly suited to summer parties and quiet family moments, and opens as part of the Amberley Village Gardens event, held biennially in June.