Walking on Water

Randle Siddeley’s strength lies in his ability to connect houses with their landscapes, making them feel as if they have organically sprung from their surroundings.  Here are three very different properties in which he has made the most of the house and garden’s proximity to water. 

This magnificent new build property in palatial Franco-Russian style, sits between two lakes in a wooded, mountainous area of Quebec. The grandeur and scale of the project demanded that Randle created big vistas to encompass the glories of the environment.  He set out to manipulate the landscape to provide the grandiose backdrop the house required, planning a series of formal gardens.  Randle erected powerful sculptures by Ju Ming on the lakeshore to be a pivotal point between the formal avenue of stairs and the breath-taking wild beauty of the natural lake beyond.  

At this Georgian rectory in Hampshire, the client had commissioned not one lake but three. So, Randle’s first task was to harmonise the lakes with their surroundings. He set about ‘naturalising’ the lakes with sandstone rocks and planting, using swathes of lush, ornamental grasses, oversized crocosmia, white buddleias and hydranageas to soften the edges and make the lakes look as if they’d always been there.  The largest lake is crossed via a grassy, arched, stone bridge, beautifully bordered with day lilies and taxodium trees. Once the sandstone rocks were placed in the river, the overall impression was that the bridge was ancient.   

Randle’s most recent project involving waterside living is Hedsor Wharf, a property that stretches for 50 acres along the banks of the River Thames.  The site was originally a trading post for goods transported by water.  The house has a sweeping lawn overlooking the riverbank, a pond and natural stream, woodlands, grasslands, and formally structured gardens.   

 The client has lived in the house for over 40 years and wants to give it a new lease of life by breaking up formal areas to give it a more natural character for her children and grandchildren to enjoy.   

Randle will keep the existing formal gardens around the house but will plant wilder-looking plants and grasses, inspired by the organic sweep of the river and fields beyond.  He plans to reduce the hedgerows to open up views and connect the house to the wider landscape.  The existing stream will be re-imagined as a gently meandering cascading waterway, with banks of aquatic and marginal planting and water lilies.  Stone and timber bridges are proposed to provide romantic crossing points.  Meanwhile, curved planting beds will spill out onto the lawns overlooking the river, wrapping around the river frontage in sweeps of herbs and grasses. These will frame the house and provide greater connectivity with the wider landscape and the river as well as achieving the clients desired need for improved privacy.  

https://randlesiddeley.co.uk