Projects · Public park
Orchard Park
A tarmac car park on the edge of Bath, turned into a public orchard, wildflower meadow and play landscape for the neighbourhood.
- Area
- 2.4 hectares
- Trees planted
- 240
- Paving removed
- 6,800 m²
- Completed
- Spring 2025
The story
From asphalt to apples.
The council asked us to design a car park extension. We asked whether the neighbourhood needed more parking, or a park. After two summers of workshops, the answer was clear.
We broke up the asphalt and reused it as rubble for paths and gabions. The old drainage now feeds a chain of rain gardens that end in a small pond. Heritage apple and pear varieties from local orchards line a long avenue; the rest of the site is a meadow mown twice a year.
Play is woven through the landscape: logs, boulders, a willow tunnel and a sand pit in the shade of three old oaks we were careful to keep.
Planting palette