Help me take this area from scruffy to lovely!

[chickensafari]

We have recently extended our farmhouse and to improve the views from the new kitchen, we have knocked down a large shed and started to turn a small paddock from agricultural land to garden.
I’ve attached pictures of the area, and would love any suggestions of how to improve it.
Over the summer we put the track in (which leads to other fields) and spent a fortune on tonnes of top soil to create the lawn. We have also had tree surgeons remove a huge hawthorn hedge which was thick with ivy (one section still to be removed) which has given us the view into the field beyond .
The pile of rubbish visible is what remains of the shed, and will be cleared over the coming month or so. A lot of it is asbestos so has been carefully bagged up ready to be safely disposed of.
What would you do to improve the look of this area?
We have a patio and childrens play equipment elsewhere, so have so specific use for the area, it doesn’t get the evening sun so it’s unlikely we’ll spend a lot of time there, we literally want it to look good from the kitchen windows!

Plans for the coming months are;
Remove remains of the old shed
Lay cobbles to tidy up the edge where the lawn meets the parking area
Cut down remaining thick section of hawthorn hedge
Cut lower branches on all the trees to open up the view into the field beyond
Any other ideas?

I'd be putting something in for wildlife to make up for removing the hedge

There’s a book called brilliant and wild in a year. It’s got lots of ideas for perennial planting.

I think you need to think about seasonal colour and also keeping it looking good in winter. Some structure would help.

You could have beautiful drifts of grasses and tall perennials to be wafty. Some Cornus for winter colour and also A variegated small tree, Cornus contra versa variegata, would glow in the evenings. In the winter you could put solar fairy light in or a spot light to pick it out and so you can see stuff in the dark evenings.

Some evergreen for structure.

Lots of white flowers to glow in a north facing shade.

Lots of bulbs. You could put them in now. Hydrangeas can be lovely too.

I’d also probably put a pond in.

And blossom trees and maybe some fruit trees.

I'm not sure that you need to do much.
You have green, green and more green - what else do you need?
Maybe some spring bulbs and a few flowering shrubs? Whatever it is, keep it naturalistic to tie in with the fields beyond.

Great thank you so much! That book looks fantastic @Justcannotbearsed I will order a copy. I forgot to mention that I’ve recently planted daffodils, bluebells and snowdrops for a bit of spring colour.
We have talked about a pond but we’re waiting until our youngest child can swim well before going any further with it.
I’d love to plant something for autumn and winter colour, something that won’t grow too tall as I’d like to keep that extended view. It is all still very new, and still very green at the moment so maybe we need to see the view change over the autumn and winter to identify what’s missing if that makes sense?
I love the idea of solar fairy lights out there too! Lots to think about, so thanks again.

Lovely article in today’s (23/10) on line guardian about hedges. Worth a read.

I'm not sure if this would be your thing, OP, but the scale of your landscape reminded me of a large country house. It might suit a simple formal type garden?
With this type of garden it's the overall design and shape that catches the eye, rather than the individual planting. The symmetry, balance and repetition with formal lines creates a strong visual image to look out on throughout the year. It would provide a contrast to the wilder agricultural landscape beyond, and be also a 'grown up' contrast to the children's play area.

Formal gardens have a smaller number of plants and they often repeat the same varieties, making it a low maintenance option as the care and pruning happens at fixed limited points during the year.

A central statue or large urn could be replaced eventually with a pond.
Features such as gravel path, a garden bench, a bird bath can enhance a very simple planting scheme. You could make it as simple or intricate as you like.

I'll upload a plan of a design suggestion...

something like this, perhaps..

The alternative is to go for a wildflower meadow, with drifts of poppies, cornflowers, vetch, etc. Good for bees and wildlife. And low maintenance, compared to lawn - just mow once, after they’ve all set seeds for next year. Or leave them for attractive winter seed heads on the poppies etc.

@Babdoc

The alternative is to go for a wildflower meadow, with drifts of poppies, cornflowers, vetch, etc. Good for bees and wildlife. And low maintenance, compared to lawn - just mow once, after they’ve all set seeds for next year. Or leave them for attractive winter seed heads on the poppies etc.

The trouble with that plan is that poppies and cornflowers are cornfield weeds, for the simple reason that, as annuals, they don’t have enough vigour to compete with grass, and therefore germinate in bare soil. So whatever you do about mowing, the annual flowers won’t persist.

Most hay meadow flowers are perennial, and it’s not critical that they set seed every year. So the mowing isn’t timed to allow seed setting, it’s to remove the grass at peak growth, before it starts returning nutrient to it’s roots and to the soil, thus overtime reducing the overall nutrient and allowing the flowers to compete successfully against the grass (which always has an advantage if nutrient levels are high).

OP did you get permission for change of use? How easy was it to get permission?

A colleague bought a house in an agriculture area, then wanted to expand. When getting planning permission for the extension, it emerged the previous owner hadn’t sought permission to change from agricultural use to garden, and he was ordered to restore all but the original pocket-handkerchief plot to field

Our local council seems to make it work on verges and roundabouts, MereDint. They sow drifts of wildflowers quite densely, and the result is a riot of colour in the summer, which they don’t mow until late in the season.

Similarly, Edinburgh Botanic Garden has a beautiful wildflower meadow, which returns each year.

@Babdoc I suspect either more is going on in the background than you realise, or the flowers in question are not poppies and cornflowers.

A wildflower meadow should return each year; but it won't consist of poppies, cornflowers, corn marigold corncockle etc.

Or a sowing of poppies, cornflower, corn marigold, corn cockle etc will return each year, but as a result of turning the soil over in the early spring.

The wildflower meadow at Edinburgh Botanic Garden was begun during the lockdown in 2020. Their advice on creating a similar "meadow" says "Crucial to the success of this annual meadow is the cleanliness of the site prior to sowing. For good performance you need a weed free seed bed and in particular you need to ensure that you have removed all the perennial weeds and any grass."

True they say it will reappear every year, but without grass it's not a "meadow" and doesn't need mowing, even once a year.

Nor, from the pictures, is it entirely UK wildflowers.

@MereDintofPandiculation we did get permission for change of use, but it was a struggle. We employed a Solicitor to help prove that the land and the shed had been used for domestic use for 10+ years using old photographs and sworn statements from neighbours etc. We were then able to add the square footage of the shed onto the house in the form of a two storey extension in return for the removal of the old shed. It was stressful and time consuming but we got there in the end!

I would plant some nice shrubs eg Roae of Sharon and Californian lilac

Rose

@brambleberries I love that- it does look grand! I like the low(ish) maintenance aspect too, and the repetition of a smaller number of plants would work well visually.