Woodside House - Oxfordshire

Woodside House is a historic Arts and Crafts home with a layered past — once a quarry and later a Victorian pleasure garden. When I began, the garden felt disconnected: woodland overgrown, the paddock empty, and the house cut off from its setting.

My concept was built around memory — how the past, present, and future coexist in a landscape.

Now, the spaces are unified. A cottage-style garden at the front reintroduces warmth and character with soft planting, Italian cypress, and repurposed ironstone. Iron fencing found on site now forms a sculptural boundary. The relocated car park is screened by native trees, reshaping the arrival experience and linking back to the woodland.

The old quarry is now a private pool garden, sheltered from wind and views, with a restored glasshouse and lush planting. A shaded path with reflective water tables leads you down to it.

The lower garden blends meadow, gravel garden, and a natural pond that feels uncovered from the quarry itself. A winding path now leads through the woodland to a hidden sunken garden. Selective clearing has opened up views and created a peaceful woodland walk.

The house now sits within a living, breathing landscape — where history, materials, and ecology all speak to each other.