About the studio
We like gardens that feel settled, not styled.
Alder & Stone is a Bath garden design and landscaping studio focused on calm layouts, natural materials and planting with enough structure to look good long after the first photograph.
Our point of view
Start with what is already good.
We pay attention to the shape of the land, the architecture, existing trees, borrowed views and the way light moves through the garden. Good design often means editing before adding.
Natural stone, timber, gravel, brick and plants are chosen for how they will age — not just how they photograph on the day the garden is finished. A wall can become a seat. A route can frame a view. Planting can make a boundary disappear without hiding the whole garden behind a hedge.
That restraint matters particularly in and around Bath, where strong architecture and mature landscapes rarely need competing with.
“The goal is not a garden that looks newly designed. It is a garden that looks as though it belongs.”
What matters
Context
The house and wider landscape should still be the main characters. New work should strengthen that relationship rather than compete with it.
Craft
Details, junctions and material choices make the difference between adequate landscaping and a garden that feels convincing.
Plant knowledge
Plants are not decoration. They define atmosphere, rhythm, season, privacy and habitat — and they need to suit the site.
Longevity
We think about the garden in five years, not only the handover photograph. Materials should weather well and planting should improve with maturity.
How we think
A beautiful garden still has to work on a wet Tuesday in November.
That means practical access, sensible drainage, places for bins and bikes, comfortable steps, lighting where it helps, surfaces appropriate to the setting and planting that does not turn into a maintenance burden you never asked for.
Those things are part of the design, not compromises added afterwards.
