The Homestead

A garden designed for a rural family

Set within a rural site in Torbay, Western Australia, this landscape responds directly to its bushland setting and the practical realities of living lightly within it. The garden is shaped by a series of outdoor rooms, carefully arranged around existing vegetation, challenging access conditions and the natural fall of the land.

Open lawn spaces are balanced with dense, layered native planting that provides resilience to local conditions, including wildlife movement and kangaroo pressure. Meandering paths and generous planting edges guide movement through the site, while helping to manage drainage and soften transitions between built form and landscape. Subtle changes in level create moments of enclosure and release, offering both sheltered gathering spaces and expansive outlooks across the property.

Australian natives are massed in drifts with variation in texture and height, reinforcing a sense of depth and immersion while allowing the garden to sit comfortably within its rural context. The result is a landscape that feels robust, grounded and timeless, dissolving the boundary between architecture and bushland and settling naturally into its setting.