Ladies Lake, St. Andrews 

Rankinfraser were appointed in 2014 to design the garden for a new private house on a stunning cliff top site in St Andrews, adjacent to St Andrews Castle. The site takes its name from the old bathing pools on the rocky shoreline below the cliffs. The landscape design responds to the dramatic and challenging location, the contemporary architecture of the house designed by Andrew Black Design and the client’s desire for a garden which sat comfortably in the landscape, attracting birdlife throughout the year.

The garden is comprised of three principle areas:

The long drive which is terminated by an open ‘window’ which frames the distant landscape beyond before revealing the expansive view to the Firth of Tay across a sea of grasses;

A terraced garden on to the north of the house overlooked by the main living spaces and designed to offer protection from the wind;

An elevated ‘secret’ garden accessed via a new flight of steps which overlooks the entire garden, St Andrews Castle and the Firth of Tay.

Natural stone is used throughout the garden in the form of walls, steps, water features and paving to structure the spaces and link the garden to the house and the wider context. We worked with planting designer Colin McBeath to develop a rich palette of native and ornamental plants which thrive in the harsh coastal environment and which creates both calmness and vibrancy across the garden and throughout the year.

Architect: Andrew Black Design 

Status: Completed 2016

Photo credit: Keith Hunter