Stone Stair Garden
Two-thirds of the garden was unreachable
Access is the least photogenic part of a garden and the one that decides whether it gets used. This property had a beautiful upper terrace that its owners had not visited in the better part of a decade, because the way up was frightening.
The design brief was almost entirely technical: a constant rise, a firm handhold, and drainage that would survive a wet winter.
★★★★★
“I had not been to the top of my own garden in eight years. I go up every morning now.”
The challenge
A slope nobody could climb
The upper garden — the sunniest part of the property — was reached by a rotting timber stair with inconsistent risers and no handrail. The clients, in their seventies, had stopped using it entirely, and winter runoff was scouring the bank beside it.
Our solution
Sixty-two consistent treads
A single flight of hand-set Sonoma fieldstone runs the full 11-metre rise at a constant 150mm riser and 400mm going, broken by three planted landings that turn the climb into a sequence. A French drain runs the length of the flight, and every third tread carries a recessed light.
Project results
- 62
- hand-set stone treads at a constant rise
- 11 m
- of level change made walkable
- 3
- planted landings breaking the climb
- 2/3
- of the garden brought back into use
More from the studio
All projects →
Have a site of your own?
Tell us about your property and we’ll show you what’s possible. The first walk-through is on us.