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Designer Rachel Platt reworked an underused garden in South Buckinghamshire into a year-round outdoor space with an unheated natural swimming pool, food-growing areas and habitats for wildlife. The design retains existing ponds, terrace and valued plants while linking the garden to the fields and hedgerows beyond.
Designer Rachel Platt has reshaped an underused garden in South Buckinghamshire into an outdoor space centred on an unheated natural swimming pool, food growing and wildlife habitat, according to a report by Homes & Gardens. The project gives the owners a place to swim and spend time outdoors at home while connecting the garden to the surrounding fields and hedgerows.
The clients, who both work in the veterinary sector, asked for a biodiverse garden that could also accommodate swimming, growing food and entertaining. Before the redesign, they often drove elsewhere to swim in rivers and spent relatively little time in their own garden. Platt’s design moves from more ordered geometry near the house to softer curves, a chalk meadow and an experimental edible hedge at the garden’s far end.
At its centre is an unheated natural pool designed with Ellicar Natural Pools. It has a clear swimming area and a separate planted regeneration zone, where aquatic plants provide hydrobotanical filtration. Planting around the water includes species selected for seasonal colour, fragrance and pollinator value. Homes & Gardens reports that dragonflies and bats have already been attracted to the site.
The garden also retains its existing terrace and two ponds, along with plants including the clients’ fig tree, lily of the valley, raspberries and rhubarb. Other features include a raised kitchen garden, grapevine pergola, firepit, outdoor shower and a dining area among established trees and ornamental grasses. The edible hedge combines plants such as hazel, hawthorn, blackberry, damson, pear and serviceberry; the meadow is left uncut over winter to provide seed and shelter for wildlife.
A Garden Built for Daily Use
The redesign responds to a practical problem: the owners wanted to swim and spend time outdoors but had been travelling elsewhere to do so. A pool at home, paired with spaces for growing food and gathering, makes the garden usable for more than occasional entertaining. Its unheated design also reflects the clients’ ambition to use it across the seasons, though the source does not quantify how often they swim.
The project joins recreation with habitat creation rather than treating them as separate goals. The pool’s planted filtration area, retained ponds, edible hedge and winter meadow provide different forms of planting and shelter. The clients say they have seen frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies, birds and a water snake; these observations are reported by Homes & Gardens and have not been independently verified in the source material.
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From Formal Pool to Circular Pond
The pool’s final shape changed during design. Platt’s original concept was a formal, linear pond positioned to reflect a mature birch tree visible from the home’s open-plan kitchen and living space. Existing drainage and a suspected utility service running across the garden led the team to revise the proposal to a circular pool.
The project also balances new features with the site’s existing character. The clients wanted a connection to the nearby landscape and autumn colour, while keeping plants and structures with environmental or personal value. Homes & Gardens describes the result as a sequence from stronger lines by the house toward a more natural-looking meadow and hedge at the boundary.
“The garden has become a haven, a place to find balance and feel miles away from everything… And our natural pond is a total escape all through the seasons.”
— The clients, quoted by Homes & Gardens
Wildlife Claims and Pool Details
The source report does not provide a project completion date, the garden’s size, construction costs or technical details such as the pool’s dimensions and maintenance requirements. It also does not include independent ecological monitoring to establish the extent of wildlife use or the pool’s effects on local species.
The owners’ wildlife observations and descriptions of the garden’s benefits are attributed to them, rather than presented as independently assessed findings. The report does not specify the pool’s safety arrangements or explain how it is managed around children or visiting wildlife.
How the Garden Develops
The report does not announce a further project phase or provide a timetable for new work. The garden’s planting will continue to develop through the seasons, with the meadow left standing over winter and the edible hedge intended to provide blossom, fruit and habitat as it matures. The owners’ account suggests they plan to keep using the garden for swimming, food growing and family gatherings.
Any later assessment of the garden’s wildlife value would depend on information not included in the report, such as ongoing ecological monitoring. No additional plans or formal evaluation are reported.
Key Questions
Who designed the South Buckinghamshire garden?
Rachel Platt Garden Design led the project, collaborating with Ellicar Natural Pools on the natural swimming pool, according to Homes & Gardens.
What makes the swimming pool natural?
The pool has a clear swim zone and a separate planted regeneration zone. The aquatic planting in the latter is intended to provide hydrobotanical filtration; the source does not give further technical specifications.
What wildlife have the owners seen?
The clients report frogs, toads, newts, several dragonfly species, bats, birds and a water snake. Those sightings are their account as quoted by Homes & Gardens, not an independent wildlife survey.
Why was the pool changed from a formal rectangle to a circle?
The original concept was a formal linear pond. Existing drainage and a suspected utility service crossing the garden prompted the design to be reworked as a circular pool.
What other features are included in the garden?
Alongside the pool, the garden has a raised kitchen garden, grapevine pergola, edible hedge, chalk meadow, firepit, outdoor shower and dining space. Existing ponds, the terrace and several valued plants were retained.
Source: rss
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