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Before it featured a serene barn-style house enveloped in soft landscaping, this one-acre block in the Northern Rivers of NSW was a simple open grass field.
‘Hence the name Field House,’ Cooke Landscape Architecture director Effie Cooke says of the project, which is her sister Olive Cooke and brother-in-law Henry Tervenski’s family home.
‘Aside from some existing boundary hedging, it was a completely blank canvas.’
Having worked on many projects together previously, Effie says having the familial connection with Henry (Morada Build) and Olive (Files from 45) made the entire process even more intuitive.
But this particular collaboration also ended up evolving into something more personal.
‘Initially, we weren’t certain it would be their permanent family home, so the early goals focused on anchoring the architecture into the natural topography using predominantly native species to achieve a “wild” yet low-maintenance feel,’ Effie says.
‘As it became clear this was where they would raise their family, we introduced more layers of occupation, such as the productive garden adjacent to the kitchen and the tennis court.’
The resulting gardens expertly balance function and form. Drawing inspiration from the restrained architecture by Fraser Mudge, Effie designed the landscaping to unfold over a series of immersive sequences — offering a celebration of the family’s indoor-outdoor lifestyle.
‘I wanted the garden to be something you could feel as much as see,’ she adds.
The layout moves from expansive, open areas like the entry lawns into the active zones, featuring the pool enveloped by natives such as Poa poiformis ‘Kingsdale’ (tussock grass) and Westringia fruticose (coastal rosemary).
Closer inwards towards the house, there are more intimate and leafy nooks like the central courtyard with Melaleuca leucadendra ‘Fine Leaf’ (weeping paperbark) trees dotted throughout.
The large established trees were incorporated to tie in with the surrounding hills and marshy floodplains of Ewingsdale. Meanwhile, Gaura lindheimeri (white butterfly bush) adds a sense of seasonal interest and whimsy thanks to its delicate flowers.
Effie says the high rainfall of the Northern Rivers was also a major factor in the design: ‘The biggest challenge was making necessary drainage look intentional and aesthetic.’
‘We had to ensure the plants wouldn’t suffer from ‘wet feet,’ so we integrated a series of functional swales to direct water across the property.’
Now, a year since the landscaping was completed, Effie has had the privilege to return to the garden many times, watching it mature and grow into its own.
‘The large shrubs have established quickly, creating a soft, green boundary between the pool and the tennis court,’ she says.
‘I’m particularly proud of the pool area and the planting palette; seeing the first season of the Gaura and Poa grasses flower and sway together has been a real joy.’
