What do you do with a sloping hillside and tons of irregular field stone and rubble no longer required as building materials? Create four dry stone wall terraces 100-feet long and 8-feet deep, with nothing more than a shovel, a wheelbarrow and a bit of determination.
Re-purposing is a skill that seems particularly well-suited to life in the countryside. With a bit of ingenuity and hard work, it’s possible to create something practical and beautiful out of almost nothing.
We ended up with a series of long, narrow flat spaces between the Tuileries and the planting below the Avenue. This forms the very heart of the garden at La Corolla, more intensively cultivated than other areas, densely planted, each terrace border with a different feel (herbaceous, roses, grasses, Mediterranean). Having any flat ground on a steep hillside is the ultimate luxury.
At the western end of the terraces is a semi-circular outcrop of rock within which is a level area containing a sitting area and potential for future projects. The perfect spot to look out over the roof of the house and admire the view of the mountains beyond.
