Avenues & Vistas – Taking The Long View
By Freddie Gibbs, Associate Director & Head of Garden Design
Avenue: a road, path or track, typically with trees at regular intervals along its sides.
Vista: a distant view through or along an avenue or opening.
From these definitions, it’s fair to say that when it comes to landscapes, these two aspects mutually complement one another. They often conjure feelings of grandeur with vast, elaborate landscapes surrounding a country house. However, in practice, you can design avenues and vistas into gardens in the most curious ways, even in intimate spaces. This blog explores why their consideration is so important in good design and how they can be used to change the feel of a landscape.
Even if you are fortunate enough to enjoy distant countryside views from your garden, you can add a further element of intrigue with some simple psychology, either magnifying or framing. The pictures above highlight how a focal point is enhanced by the avenues of trees, drawing the eye’s attention centrally down the garden to the view beyond.
The trees can also help to bring interest to the foreground, disguising a slightly muddled tree canopy or neighbouring properties. The added intimacy of the trees brings comfort and shelter yet retains the openness that is integral to the space. They elongate the length of the garden, making it feel like your garden is much larger than it is, especially if this continues into the fields or borrowed landscape beyond.
A sculpture is another highlight that can enhance views further. The extra joy of having something focal to be enjoyed from the house or garden is so simple and could be less structural than any of these examples. Often, a group of trees or even one sentinel specimen is good enough to focus the attention and elevate the avenue and vista.
Tree-lined drives are desired by many. However, they simply demonstrate how you can set the tone for a property before arrival. The examples above are executed in the same manner. However, the difference in maturity helps to tell the story that you are about to be welcomed into a heritage property. A prominent tree avenue is also great for strong winter architecture and year-round texture.
The concept of an avenue can also be applied to smaller gardens. Depending on the shape, some rectilinear-shaped gardens can be accentuated to become an avenue garden such as the examples below. When applied in a smaller space, it can make a vast difference to the sense of scale by extending proportions. Again, the trees help to provide privacy and intimacy whilst simultaneously stretching the eyes into thinking the space is wider or longer than it is.
The Nicholsons Design Studio has been designing beautiful gardens since 1997. If you would like to speak with a member of our garden design team, please contact us on gardendesign@nicholsonsgb.com.
