Garden Art Group

UPDATING A TUDOR HOME IN HILLSBOROUGH

This Hillsborough project was a fun stretch, as we are not known for doing formal work, and the Tudor style is as un-regional as one can get. Coming from a damp, dismal climate, Tudor architecture has very little relationship to the outdoors. The Elizabethan landscape was typically clipped and formal, with no attempt or desire to integrate the design into the surrounding countryside, which might well have hidden your enemies. Nature was not seen as benign, and gardens were more for pomp than pleasure. However, once we took on this project, we had a blast. Our client said, “The more like a resort you can make this, the happier I’ll be.” With that in mind, we remodeled the swimming pool, added trellis screens to mask the bare retaining walls next door, added arbors, a kitchen and a fireplace. This is now a Tudor garden for the 21st century, with dogs and children and parties and all the fun stuff that make Californians like their lives.