Clifton Courtyard: Food Forest Garden Design, Bristol

Set behind a Victorian terrace opposite the Downs in Clifton, Bristol, this small courtyard garden was ready for reinvention. Leoni and Sam had completed a full house renovation but were left with an outdoor space that no longer matched their home, or how they and their young family wanted to live in it.

The design was created through a Wild Garden Workshop, a collaborative process that brings client, contractor, and designer together to develop something truly unique. It's ideally suited to creatively minded homeowners who have ideas but aren't sure how to shape them into a garden design, and it produced something remarkable here.

A lower terrace sits sunken beneath a canopy of birch and fruit trees. Rather than removing an old gnarly pear tree, we embraced it, underplanting it with a dense food forest that feels both wild and deeply connected to the seasons. Herbs, fruit, and edible planting encourage foraging throughout the year, creating a garden that nourishes as much as it delights.

Reuse runs through every detail. Pieces of reclaimed walling stone were repurposed as bird baths, planters, and structural features. Old iron tree-pit grilles became entrance details. Gravel paths soften the space and complement the planting, while the overall effect, nature-filled, unhurried, completely removed from the surrounding city, speaks for itself.

"To step out barefoot with my one-year-old daughter each morning and wave 'hello' to each new flower that appears, and to watch my six-year-old's face light up with excitement as he picks herbs and strawberries to offer to his friends. It's what a garden is about really, isn't it?" — Leoni

The garden was built by Arlington Landscapes, one of our trusted teams in the Bristol area, a partnership that reflects the collaborative spirit at the heart of the Wild Garden Workshop process.