Making an Entrance | To draw the dovecote (left) and chapel (right) into the French chateau’s dialogue, Doyle Herman Design Associates connected them to the entry grid with a strong cross axis.
Funneled In | Rather than a traditional front door, guests enter a passageway to the planted courtyard beyond.
Directing Traffic | Rather than just gravel, the pathways are delineated with Irish limestone pavers.
Inside Out | With the fastigiated hornbeams close at hand, the garden is almost inside.
Step Dance | Stone steps lead down to a terrace below grade in the inner courtyard.
Stepping Out | The sole nod toward lawn is in the rear garden where irregular paving echoes the modern motif.
Private Outlook | The bank of windows etched in ivy demanded a clipped hornbeam hedge to give the guesthouse privacy.
Rooted in Tradition | The boxwood parterre in front of the main house provides a smart entry.
Topiary to the Rescue | The solution lay in strong lines and a no-nonsense entry drive accented by yew cones and boxwood edging.
Soft Focus | With flowerbeds hugging the walls, but no strong story line, the garden lacked definition.
Hidden Treasure | The chateau could scarcely make a statement obscured behind a grove of trees with a rear approach.
Heaven’s Gates | Not only did the gate move to the fore, but it received a fresh coat of French blue paint, while its piers were taken down, numbered and reinstalled. To achieve the Old World patina on the new wall, it was preserved with a tile cap and plastered with a lime wash.
New Outlook | With a sharp new façade, the wall of the mews house now jives with the sharp new landscape.
Bridging the Gap | In the inner courtyard, a glass and steel bridge forms a catwalk to connect the two buildings on the property.
Nurturing Nature | In the rear garden, an Irish sculpture of Mother and Child plays off the stone wall and stands in alliums about to pop open.
Good Bones | The 1847 Georgian wall overlooking a scrub lot had to remain, but needed a facelift.
Simple Strokes | In the rear garden, the wall that divides the mews house from the main residence is softened with a sculpture, trees and corresponding allium garden.
Textural Interplay | To echo the beach on the façade overlooking the water, DHDA used different surface textures of gravel, brick and river stones.
