The brief for this garden on the Mornington Peninsula was to create a soft, natural space that seamlessly integrated with the surrounding coastal vegetation, with spaces for recreation, entertaining and food production woven throughout the property.

A winding driveway leads past monumental rammed earth walls, their texture and colour drawing on the tones of the surrounding landscape. Despite this grand arrival sequence, entry to the home is through a small courtyard, bringing the structure back down to the human scale and creating a sense of intimacy before the garden opens up beyond. Existing mature Eucalypts and sculptural Moonah Tea Trees form the backdrop of this modern Australian garden, their gnarled forms and dappled canopy softening the architecture and anchoring the design to its coastal context. Olive trees and pencil pines lend a distinctly Tuscan feel to the space, threading a Mediterranean sensibility through the native planting and reflecting the owners’ love of both landscapes.

Nestled towards the rear of the site, the functional food production area and small orchard form an important part of the usability of this garden, offering a productive counterpoint to the more ornamental areas closer to the home. Raised beds and fruiting trees ensure the space is as practical as it is beautiful, supporting a genuine connection to growing and harvesting food.

Another important part of the program for this build was integrating spaces for recreation, including a tennis court, pool and large lawn for games of soccer, each carefully positioned to sit comfortably within the natural contours of the site.

The end result is a home with something for the whole family to enjoy, where architecture and landscape complement one another.