A Garden of Rooms in the Cotswolds

PLACES & SPACES | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA

British landscape designer Elizabeth Tyler transformed a historic Cotswolds manor’s grounds into a sequence of distinct yet interconnected spaces shaped by season and atmosphere.  

BY BUSOLA EVANS | ROOMS & GARDENS | 26 JUNE 2026

For landscape gardener Elizabeth Tyler, the success of a large country garden often lies not in designing a single space but in orchestrating a series of experiences. Such was the case at this 18th-century Cotswolds manor house where she was initially enlisted by the owners, a couple with a young family, to create a new swimming pool garden in an old walled garden. 

On visiting, it was clear that while the existing garden as a whole contained beautiful elements, it was, in effect, a collection of spaces that felt disconnected. That single job gradually evolved into a six-year transformation of the entire landscape with eight distinct ‘rooms’ linked by seasonal planting and a consistent architectural language.

“I think it is important to have areas that feel different, but they have to also feel like a whole,” says Elizabeth, who founded her eponymous garden practice in 2017. “You’ve got to have a sense of a masterplan. Even if you’re not going to do all of it straight away, you’ve got to have that initial vision of where you’re going.”

The initial commission began with a practical problem. The former swimming pool and changing rooms occupied a prominent position directly behind the house and its most important asset – sweeping views across the surrounding meadows. “The kitchen, which was the heart of the home, was there but you couldn’t really see out,” Elizabeth recalls.

Removing those buildings had a domino effect for the entire garden and became the catalyst for its redesign. The new swimming pool was relocated to an abandoned walled vegetable garden elsewhere on the estate. Working alongside architect Mike Rundell, who designed a pavilion containing changing rooms and a gym, Elizabeth approached the pool as part of the landscape rather than a functional element.

“We wanted to have the feeling of the pool being more like a water feature sitting in lots of planting rather than a big swimming pool surrounded in a sea of paving,” she explains. As a result it is lined in dark swiss stone and sits within generous drought-tolerant species such as blue irises, euphorbias, grasses, sea thrift and santolina. 

The palette evokes the Mediterranean rather than the English countryside. “It’s a scented South-of-France vibe,” says Elizabeth. Unlike traditional gardens which are expected to perform year-round, the pool garden embraces seasonality. “It is intentionally designed to look amazing in the summer when the family are most likely to use the space."

The idea of assigning different seasonal roles to different parts of the garden became a defining principle of the project. Closest to the house is the Winter Garden, anchored by a bespoke Alitex glasshouse painted in a soft turquoise. It's a space designed specifically for the months when the family are likely to be looking out from the kitchen windows. Planting includes hellebores, edgeworthia, which produces clusters of yellow blooms in late winter, and dogwoods. “We’ve got lots of winter flowering and plants that have beautifully coloured stems so that when the leaves are off, they still look lovely."

Beyond the Winter Garden lies an edible garden framed by custom-made metal arches carrying espaliered apples. Raised beds provide space for cut flowers while rosemary and lavender soften the structure. Nearby, an existing rose and peony garden was retained and carefully integrated into the wider design.

Between the more exuberant garden ‘rooms’ is the Acer Garden, where the planting is deliberately restrained and mature Japanese maples give a framework. “It is a visually very quiet space, a bit like a palette cleanser,” explains Elizabeth. “It’s mainly different greens and textures and white flowers, so it is a visual pause between the riot of color.”

That sense of progression is central to Elizabeth’s design philosophy. “I like being surprised by things,” she says. “I like the idea that you walk through and a completely different feeling opens up.”

Yet despite the individuality of each ‘room’, the project remains deeply connected to its setting. Historical context informed many of the design decisions, from the placement of the glasshouse to the overall relationship between the house and the garden. “I love historic buildings and working with historic gardens,” says Elizabeth. Perhaps the greatest lesson of the project lies in its timescale.

Unlike architecture and interiors, with gardens there is no instant gratification. The plants have been evolving over several years to create a landscape that is natural and fully established. “It takes two to three years for a garden to look its best,” says Elizabeth. “There’s no getting around it. You just have to be patient.” 

That understanding, that the garden is never fully finished but constantly changing with the seasons, is crucial to its success. “The project has been an amazing opportunity to explore some bigger ideas and have that luxury of space,” says Elizabeth. “ The delayed gratification of gardens working really well makes it so amazing and worthwhile.”