The overall design of the communal gardens at L’Amandier Villas in Morocco, have taken shape. Our wonderful sustainable landscaper, Heloise Chandless, has created our final concept; the Berber Farm. She also came up with two other excellent designs, but this was the winner. It fits completely within our criteria to respect the local environment, geography and horticulture and to act as a complementary backdrop to simple yet dramatic architecture.

As L’Amandier is set in a rural location, The Berber Farm concept will effectively reflect the living land surrounding it, whilst providing the home owners with the genuine experience of benefiting from the land with fruit grown on their doorstep. The central area will be planted with orchards of various local fruit producing trees; orange, almonds, olives, and apricots, for starters. The local staff will be involved in the cultivation of the fruit crops, and the farm manager will sell excess produce for the benefit of the local community, giving them a vested interest.

Initial overall plan…

The orchards will be separated with gravel walkways, bordered with Moroccan roses and the external orchard borders will be marked out with rosemary and lavender hedges…

Around the communal pool, pomegranate bushes will be interspersed with a variety of soft grasses planted to enhance the curved borders and inlets. These will allow some privacy for the pool users…

At the borders of the land itself, we plan to plant a variety of pines, which will mirror the natural surroundings, and the taller trees will provide protection for the properties and the farm from the elements; both sun and wind…

I hope you will agree that Heloise has done a fantastic job in creating this concept and I can’t wait to see the process get underway and start to become established.

Related posts:

1. Argan oil: a cooperative in the Ouirgane Valley
2. Kasbah Shama
3. The gardens are coming alive…