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Annie and Mark designed their garden alongside a rear home extension to connect indoor and outdoor living in a 150-square-metre space. The completed garden includes a rainwater-fed rill and an open-roofed folly; Annie describes it as a tribute to Mark, who died after the work was finished.
Annie and Mark planned a rear home extension and garden together, shaping the outdoor space around a new kitchen and dining area at their home in a village outside York. Their 150-square-metre garden now includes a rainwater-fed rill and an open-roofed folly, and Annie says the finished project is a tribute to Mark, who died after the work was completed.
The couple bought the house in 2018, seeking to live closer to their children’s friends. The garden was a sharp change from the nine-acre grounds at their previous home: it covered about 150 square metres and, before the redesign, had a lawn, a stone path, a small raised circular deck and an old sunken trampoline. Red brick walls around the plot gave them a backdrop to work with.
Annie and Mark engaged Ian Hazard of Ian Hazard Architects at the beginning of 2021. The brief was to improve the house’s rear rooms and connect them to the garden, creating a sequence of indoor and outdoor spaces for relaxing and entertaining. The couple also wanted a calming, wildlife-supportive garden with room for children to spend time and for them to grow vegetables.
The garden was built after the extension for practical reasons, but the designs were developed together. Hazard said the open-roofed folly was intended to connect a new outdoor room with the extension’s architecture. Zinc on the extension and western red cedar slats on the folly helped link the structures through material and colour. Mark, an engineer, designed and built much of the hard landscaping, including the water features and the folly, according to Hazard.
How the Garden Shaped the Extension
The project shows how planning a garden alongside an extension can affect decisions about the house itself, particularly when outdoor space is limited. Annie said the couple needed to keep the garden from becoming too small relative to the enlarged home. Considering both designs together gave them a chance to make choices about the extension with the garden layout in view.
The rill also makes water a visible part of the design rather than a separate decorative feature. The report describes it as rainwater-fed, but does not give details about storage, filtration, capacity or how reliably it operates. The broader significance is practical as well as aesthetic: the garden was planned to provide space for sitting, planting and wildlife while making the new rear rooms feel connected to the outdoors.
For Annie, the completed space carries a personal meaning beyond the design. She described it as a tribute to Mark and to the joint project they developed together.
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From Trampoline Lawn to Garden Rooms
Before the work, the garden was largely grass, with an ageing sunken trampoline and a small seating area. Annie said the couple had already planted wisteria, climbing roses and verbena bonariensis, and had an existing apple tree. Their preferences combined more formal structure with looser planting, including flowers such as foxgloves and poppies.
The brief brought together different priorities. Mark wanted water features and a modern feel that complemented the brick walls; Annie wanted a place to sit beneath the night sky and occasionally have a fire. The couple also wanted the garden to be productive and supportive of local wildlife. They visited Beningbrough and RHS Harlow Carr for ideas about planting and structure, Annie said.
Hazard’s role included resolving how the existing interior spaces related to each other and to the garden. The design connected the rear extension to an outdoor room, while the selected zinc and cedar helped make the building and garden read as parts of one scheme.
“It needed to feel like a calming and nurturing space which was productive and supportive of local wildlife.”
— Annie
Rainwater System Details Not Given
The report identifies the rill as rainwater-fed, but does not explain where the water is collected, whether it is stored, what equipment is used or how the system is maintained. It also does not specify the rill’s dimensions, the garden’s planting plan after completion or the overall cost and construction schedule. Those details cannot be confirmed from the published account.
The account describes the garden as completed after the building work and says Mark died after the project was finished. It provides no further details about his death, and none are needed to describe the design development.
No Further Project Update Reported
The source is a retrospective account of a completed home and garden project, not an announcement of further construction. It does not report upcoming work, a launch date or plans to expand the rainwater system. Any technical assessment of the system’s performance, or further information about how the garden has developed since completion, remains unreported.
For readers considering a similar project, the account’s practical sequence is clear: develop the extension and garden plans together, agree how much space each should occupy, and coordinate materials and structural features before construction. The source does not provide technical specifications or a step-by-step installation guide, so it cannot establish how to reproduce the rainwater-fed rill.
Key Questions
Where is the garden?
It is at Annie and Mark’s home in a village outside York. They bought the property in 2018.
What does the rainwater-fed garden include?
The reported garden features a rainwater-fed rill, water features and an open-roofed folly. The account does not describe the rainwater collection or storage equipment.
How large is the garden?
The garden covers about 150 square metres, substantially smaller than the grounds at the couple’s previous home.
Why were the extension and garden designed together?
The couple wanted the new rear kitchen and dining area to connect with outdoor rooms for relaxing and entertaining. Planning the schemes together also helped them balance the extension’s footprint against the limited garden space.
Who designed and built the garden features?
Ian Hazard of Ian Hazard Architects worked with the couple on the design. Hazard said Mark, an engineer, designed and built much of the hard landscaping, including the water features and folly.
Source: amateurgardening.com
