You can make a garden seem bigger by ‘borrowing’ the surrounding landscape – many designers for centuries to great effect. Here are some ideas of how to do this:

– blur the boundaries to make them less hard and definite – use planting or a ha-ha
– draw the surroundings in – mirror a colour / form of neighbouring tree or building
– play with depth of field – interweave planting areas to create a layered effect
– trick the eye – use repetitive planting colour pattern and form

Lack of size isn’t a problem here at RHS Bridgewater – the garden is enormous…156 acres of enormous to be exact. The walled gardens alone cover 11acres and I think that the designer of this part of the gardens, Tom Stuart-Smith, has used this technique of drawing the surrounding buildings and woodland in, to make the large space seem more intimate and less of an island floating in the landscape. He’s done this by planting tall, cylindrical beech specimens that mimic the slender shape of the chimney in the old frameyard behind.

Well worth a visit if you’re in the area – lots of ideas for any size of garden; plenty of plants to inspire; a few different styles to have a look at; and, very good cakes.