DANIEL COMBES GARDEN DESIGN
oxfordshire Garden Design
Our garden and landscape design studio is based in Wiltshire, equidistant between Salisbury and Shaftesbury in Dorset. Our work regularly takes us throughout the UK in to neighbouring counties and beyond; sometimes overseas.
Oxfordshire is a county that we always enjoy working in. Oxford, its capital, is famed for its dreaming spires, and home to the world-famous University of Oxford, the Ashmolean Museum and Bodleian Libraries. Oxfordshire is full of history, home to some amazing architecture, beautiful villages, traditional market towns and stunning gardens.
Our home in Wiltshire lies to the southwest of Oxfordshire.
There are two upland areas in Oxfordshire divided by a broad vale. The North Oxfordshire Heights, at Edgehill in the northwest of the county, are developed on oolitic limestone and related strata of the Jurassic Period.
The Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills are developed on Cretaceous chalk. The intervening clay vale stretches from northeast to southwest. It is divided into the Oxford Clay Vale and the White Horse Vale by an outcrop of Corallian limestone, giving rise to the Oxford Heights.
Oxfordshire offers a diverse landscape in which to design. Our Oxfordshire garden design commissions have allowed us the opportunity to create both traditional and contemporary gardens.
One of our Oxfordshire garden designs illustrates the effectiveness of clarity and simplicity. Our clients had a good idea what they wanted to achieve and we were brought in to advise on the planting. The result is very restrained, with a simple contrast between long and cut grass edged by disappearing dry stone walls.
The County of oxfordshire
Notable gardens include Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill; with lavish gardens and 2,000 acres of parkland, parts of which were landscaped by the great Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Created over the centuries by esteemed garden designers such as Henry Wise and Achille Duchêne, the Formal Gardens include the majestic Water Terraces, the Duke's Private Italian Garden, the tranquil Secret Garden with all of its hidden treasures, the Churchill Memorial Garden and the beautifully delicate Rose Garden.
Buscot Park in Faringdon (with its bespoke pantry designed by our friends at Guild Anderson Furniture Ltd) houses a wonderful collection of old French roses, alongside more modern cultivars, climbers and standard roses. The Peto water garden was designed in the early 20th Century for the first Lord Faringdon, the Italianate design by Harold Peto creates a perfect link between the house and the lake with its domed and columned garden temple. In complete contrast, the charming swinging garden created in 2013 is a place of fun for both adults and children.
Rousham, north of Woodstock is a garden that remains largely unchanged since it was designed in the 18th century by William Kent. Rousham is approached through grazed parkland, with the house nestling comfortably into the landscape. The garden is split in to different areas of interest with focal points that provide inspiration to visitors that can be applied to both large and small garden designs.
If you have a Oxfordshire garden design project that you wish to discuss, please contact us