Landscape design by Anthony Paul Landscape Design
Set along an exposed stretch of pebble beach in The Witterings, on the western coast of the Selsey Peninsula in West Sussex, this seaside garden embraces its coastal setting.
Anthony Paul Landscape Design was commissioned to create the garden for a newly built second home – a contemporary retreat by architect Mark Robinson. Having already created the garden at the homeowners’ main residence in outer London, the team was invited once again to bring their style to life – this time, against a coastal backdrop.
Creating a coastal flow
The design team were involved from the early stages of the house construction, as the homeowners felt the garden was integral to the success of the new building within its setting. The brief was to create a garden that flowed naturally from the house to the beach.
Previously, the 1920s bungalow on the site had been surrounded by mown lawns and tall, untidy tamarisk hedges, which blocked the strong onshore winds but also obscured the sea views. The new design aimed to open up the landscape while responding to the seaside conditions, creating a garden that felt connected to its surroundings.
Materials to reflect the build
The goal was to repeat the architecture of the new house, with its materials such as composite wood-effect cladding and flint detailing to its elevations. Flint was also used to face low gabion walls that delineate the boundary between the structured upper garden and the wilder lower beach area. Oak sleepers were used as steps and zigzag stepping platforms through planting in the lower garden – linking with old, weathered paddle stones within sea flint gravel and smooth matt pebbles.
Protective elements, such as an oak groyne-style angled fence, provide shelter from the strong winds and tides that batter the garden, while maintaining views to the wider landscape. A weighted drawbridge continues the interaction with the beach, allowing direct access from the garden to the shoreline. A black infinity pool on the upper terrace reflects the sky and projects out from the house, towards the horizon.
“Planting was carefully chosen to respond to the coastal conditions, creating a garden that moves with the wind, while maintaining views to the sea.”
A natural fit
Completed in 2017, the garden now feels as though it’s always been part of the landscape. Smart plant placement and material selection allow the garden to connect the modern home and its natural surroundings. The garden responds to the coastal conditions, with resilient plantings that move with the wind and open up the views.
Plant palette
Suitable native salt- and exposure-tolerant plants with long flowering periods were used, including ones that are found on the surrounding beach areas, such as Malva arborea (sea mallow), Crambe maritima (sea kale) and those found in local gardens, such as Erigeron glaucus (fleabane / beach aster). Drifts of Armeria maritima (sea thrift) provide evergreen mounds of bright pink from late spring. Grasses such as Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) are clipped to form textured tussocks.
Also inspired by Anthony’s childhood spent in Aotearoa New Zealand, plants found there, such as Pittosporum crassfiolium are also suited to these seaside conditions. These were incorporated into the beach garden to achieve evergreen structure, pruned and trained into hummocks that mirror the plants in the beach, which have had their forms shaped by the wind.
- Armeria maritima (sea thrift)
- Crambe maritima (sea kale)
- Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’ (beach aster / fleabane)
- Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn)
- Limonium latifolium (sea lavender)
- Malva arborea (sea mallow)
- Pittosporum crassifolium (Karo)
- Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
