Hunter Valley Residence
by Dangar Barin Smith
When you are in the business of creating outdoor spaces where clients want to achieve a mature, established garden instantly, it is wise to play the long game. Back in 2008 Will was impressed by the Crepe Myrtles, in the garden of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. When he got back to Australia he worked with a grower to cultivate twenty Crepe Myrtles, knowing that in time the right opportunity to plant them would come about.
It was 2014 before he could use them with the scale and significance he envisaged.
“This project in the Hunter Valley was park-like in its scope.’ Says Will, ‘with much of the emphasis on the sculpting of the landform itself to create a majestic setting, with great views.”
When Will and his team arrived on the project the house building was underway but not complete, and the decision was taken to bank the land up around the structure to reduced its prominence and give the effect of drawing the building down into the landscaping.
As the land was bereft of trees the judicious placing of mature species was a significant part of the design. Chinese Weeping Elms, Bottle trees with their extraordinary bulbous trunks, Morton Bay Figs for their grandeur, Crepe Myrtles with their seasonal flowers and Weeping Willows gracing the banks of the two man-made lakes, introduced sculptural form, colour, gravitas and a sense of romance.
“We spent six months with bulldozers and scrappers to reconfigure the form of the land, working the existing soil – a dry, light clay – and so to achieve this lushness we ended up bringing in a lot of top soil’, says Will.
The dusty conditions made clear the necessity of introducing water into the scheme and he designed two adjacent lakes with water pumped from a bore into the top lake and gravity feeding into the bottom one. A sizeable slab of stone connects the two bodies of water and hand-laid stones give a naturalistic effect. Filled with perch and with the Weeping Willows dipping into the water it is hard to believe the lakes are relatively recent additions to the land.
At the rear of the property a robust timber pergola houses a stone fireplace, BBQ and a dining and lounge area. The steps up to this area are substantial sections of hardwood set into the grassy bank in irregular lengths rendering them sculptural as well as functional, while the simple design side-steps the fussy.
In the balance of the relationship between house and garden this project tips very much towards the garden in its expansive sweep of lush grass, water, mature trees and views. The house is positioned to survey, not only the immediate terrain, but long, unencumbered valley views and as such the connection with nature near and far is complete.
