Upper Brookfield Road, Upper Brookfield

The Brief

This property, set on a steep hillside with very poor soil and plenty of clay and shale, required the creation of usable platforms. These would accommodate different living spaces, some of which needed to provide for a swimming pool, a vegetable garden, a fire pit and an entertaining area, and a flat paddock beside the dam.

The Result

Large sandstone random rocks, steppers and 20mm gravel were used to create multiple meandering pathways to the different platforms on this property while always remaining connected at intersections. A slimline simple swimming pool was built on a platform directly below the house level in order to sit gently in the landscape without huge obstruction. Mass plantings of native grasses are used extensively on this property in order to move in the breezes and contrast with the bright greens of plenty of Lomandra grasses near them. Native plants spill over the corten steel garden bed edges to soften the hard landscaping seen in the pathways. A large vegetable garden of raised timber wicking beds was constructed and dwarf fruit trees were planted in raised corten planter rounds filled with herbs at their bases. A fire pit area was created on the level below the vegetable garden which can be used during the day too as a place to relax and enjoy the food garden and views.