FROM “IMPOSSIBLE HILL” TO HIGH COUNTRY GARDEN
JAMIESON PROPERTY TRANSFORMATION
Four metres down. Roughly four metres across. One hell of a challenge.
And exactly the sort of project we love.
When we first visited this beautiful Jamieson property, there was one fairly significant problem sitting between the house and swimming pool.
A hill. A very, very steep hill.
With approximately four metres of fall across roughly the same distance, this wasn’t a space that simply needed landscaping.
It needed imagination.
Our clients wanted to turn an incredibly difficult and largely unusable part of their property into a beautiful garden they could enjoy — while retaining the natural character that makes their High Country property so special.
The challenge was figuring out how.
THE “IMPOSSIBLE HILL”
Before — approximately four metres of fall between the house and pool.
Standing at the bottom looking up gives you some idea of what we were dealing with.
One huge retaining wall could potentially have dealt with the change in elevation.
But that wasn’t what this property needed.
It would have dominated the landscape, and more importantly, it wouldn’t have created the beautiful, usable garden our clients were hoping for.
So instead of asking:
“How do we retain this hill?”
We asked:
“WHAT COULD THIS HILL BECOME?”
FIRST CAME THE VISION
Before the machines arrived and before the first rock was placed, we needed to work out how to turn that enormous change in elevation into something that actually worked.
Our idea was to break the hill into a series of flowing terraces.
Rather than one imposing structure, multiple natural mudrock retaining walls would gradually absorb the change in elevation.
Winding pathways would connect the different levels.
Generous garden beds would give our clients plenty of room to create the garden they’d dreamed about.
Natural rock steps would provide access through the landscape.
And a circular central area would create a destination within the garden rather than the entire space simply being somewhere you passed through.
We discussed our original concept and supplied a detailed quotation so it could paint a picture for our clients who needed help with their vision.
It wasn’t a fancy computer render.
It didn’t need to be.
We could see it.
More importantly, our clients could see it too.
And they trusted us to turn that idea into their new landscape.
THEN WE HAD TO BUILD IT.
This is where ideas become dirt.
And there was a lot of dirt.
Transforming a slope this severe meant carefully excavating and reshaping the existing hill to progressively create the individual levels.
Every cut affected the next.
Every level had to work with the one above and below it.
Every wall, pathway, garden bed and set of steps ultimately had to come together as one landscape.
We don't work on the concept “she’ll be right.”
This was proper earthworks combined with landscape construction — and exactly why having the same two people involved from concept through to completion makes such a difference.
We weren’t interpreting somebody else’s vision.
We were building our own.
ROCK. AND LOTS OF IT!
Natural mudrock became the backbone of the project.
But natural rock doesn’t arrive in neat, identical blocks.
Every piece is different.
Different size. Different shape. Different face.
That’s also what makes it beautiful.
Each rock was selected and positioned to create retaining walls that were functional but didn’t feel overly engineered or out of place.
The walls curve through the property rather than cutting harsh straight lines across it.
Levels transition gradually.
Rock steps are incorporated into the landscape.
And the mudrock itself ties beautifully into the colours and rugged character of the surrounding High Country.
There was plenty of:
“Turn that one.”
“Try the other face.”
“Nah. Pull it back out.”
And that’s the difference between placing rocks and actually caring what the finished wall looks like.
FROM A CONCEPT...…TO REALITY.
Take a second and experience our concept...
The sweeping terraces.
The central circular area.
The pathways.
The multiple garden levels.
The rockwork connecting the house to the pool.
The seemless integration with the environment around it.
And we’re extremely proud of it.
WE BUILT THE BONES. THEY’LL BRING IT TO LIFE.
The garden beds were intentionally left ready for our clients to plant themselves.
They’re keen gardeners, and this part of the transformation belongs to them.
Our job was to take an almost unusable hillside and create the structure beneath their future garden — the terraces, retaining, access, pathways and spaces that would allow it to exist.
They’ve already begun planting, and watching their garden establish amongst the mudrock is particularly special for us.
As those plants mature, spill over the walls and soften the stonework, this landscape will continue changing for years to come.
We built the bones of the garden.
Now Marianne and her family get to make it theirs.
AND WHAT DID OUR CLIENTS THINK?
★★★★★
“From our first meeting, Nicole and Michelle from Thumbs-Up Landscaping inspected our impossible hill and immediately inspired our confidence in their vision to transform our landscape into a beautiful living space and gardeners delight.
Their design, respect for our preferences and willingness to adapt to our needs during the project led to the fantastic result achieved.
We welcomed their daily visits to our home, with their friendly company and conversation (while our dogs enjoyed playtime as well!).
The pictures showing before and after highlight the amazing transformation achieved. Their creativity, friendship, professionalism and expertise in tackling our hill has brought us so much pleasure and satisfaction.
We wholeheartedly recommend Thumbs-Up for landscaping projects and hope to have them return for more work in the future.”
— Marianne Coultas, Google Review ★★★★★
AND THAT’S WHAT THUMBS UP IS ABOUT.
Of course we’re proud of the walls.
We’re proud of the earthworks.
And we’re proud that our concept turned into what we’d imagined.
But Marianne’s review says something that’s even more important to us.
They enjoyed having us there.
Large landscaping projects can mean having people and machinery at your home for weeks.
We never forget that it’s your home, not simply our worksite.
We want our clients to feel comfortable talking to us, changing their minds, throwing ideas around and being part of the process.
We’re a small, hands-on team.
The chicks who meet you are the chicks who design it.
And we’re the chicks who turn up and build it.
GOT YOUR OWN “IMPOSSIBLE HILL”?
WE’D LOVE TO SEE IT.
Steep blocks don’t scare us.
Awkward levels don’t scare us.
In fact, the properties that initially look like they have the biggest problems are often the ones with the greatest potential.
If you’ve got a slope, difficult block or outdoor area and can’t quite imagine what could be done with it, show us.
Because sometimes all an impossible hill needs is somebody who can see what it could become.
