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Garden Passion

Keven Bentley is a City-based Lloyds broker... but his passion is garden design

Keven Bentley is a City-based Lloyds broker but his passion is garden design. His own garden dates from when Keven and his wife Katie moved to the Chilterns with their young family some ten years ago. The property consisting of two adjoining farm cottages was extended, remodeled and re-orientated so that the main entrance now faces west and overlooks the formal garden which Keven planned and planted, inspired by the layout of classical Italian gardens. Using earth-moving machines the field was leveled and then planted with hundreds of young yews which have since matured into the walls which separate the various 'rooms'. One is filled with a mass of hydrangeas, another is a water garden with an old stone urn as the centre-piece, whilst another is the summer dining room where the table is prepared for dinner under the stars. The sound of water is also a feature in the sheltered south-facing walled courtyard adjacent to the house, where a lemon tree and other fragrant shrubs and climbers surround the dining area.