Wiltshire Cottage

The Project

Designed and built by M T S Gardens, this intimate Wiltshire garden was created around a newly completed outbuilding, with a brief to provide a beautiful and relaxed setting for entertaining, unwinding and spending time with family.

Inspired by the client's love of soft blues and purples and a desire for a Mediterranean character, the garden combines gently curving gravel paths, drought-tolerant planting and natural stone detailing. A central stone water feature provides a focal point, while generous dining, informal seating and a pétanque area create different opportunities to enjoy the garden.

The result is a relaxed, richly planted space that feels both purposeful and informal — a garden designed around the simple pleasure of spending time outdoors.

Project information

Location: Wiltshire

Project Type: Mediterranean Garden & Entertaining Space

Services: Concept & Planting Design | Landscape Construction | Soft Landscaping | Seasonal Maintenance

Key Elements: Purbeck Water Feature | Limestone Cobbles | Self Binding Gravel Pathways | Mediterranean Inspired Planting | Dining & Seating Areas

Designer: M T S Gardens

Completion Date: March 2025

Photography: M T S Gardens

The Story

The starting point for Wiltshire Cottage was a newly constructed outbuilding and a simple but personal brief: to create a garden where the owners could relax, entertain friends and family, and enjoy time outdoors with their grandchildren.

Working closely with the client, we developed an initial concept that moved away from rigid geometry in favour of a softer, more informal layout. Curving pathways meander through generous areas of planting towards a central natural stone water feature, creating a sense of discovery within what is a relatively intimate space.

Different areas were woven into the garden without allowing any one function to dominate. A generous terrace provides space for dining and entertaining, while a smaller bench seating area offers somewhere quieter to sit amongst the planting. A small area to play petanque introduces a playful element to the garden and provides another space for the family to enjoy together.

Once the design and material palette had been agreed, construction began with the setting out and excavation of the new hard-landscape areas. Beige limestone cobbles were used to define the flowing edges of the planting beds and complement the self-binding gravel pathways, helping to give the new garden an established, understated character.

Particular attention was given to what lay beneath the planting. The beds were thoroughly prepared and conditioned before planting, creating the environment needed for the drought-tolerant, Mediterranean-inspired palette to establish successfully. Soft blues and purples run throughout the scheme, accompanied by foliage, texture and movement to create a garden that feels abundant without becoming overly formal.

Within only a few months, the planting had begun to fill out and the garden was in full bloom, softening the pathways and allowing the original concept to come to life.

Most importantly, the transformation changed how the owners used their garden. What had begun as a space surrounding a new building became somewhere for dining, playing, entertaining and simply spending time outside — a garden the clients told us had improved their lives and brought them enormous joy.

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Whether working directly with private clients or alongside garden designers and landscape architects, we deliver landscapes from construction through planting, establishment and long-term care.