Once upon a time, gardens were designed with weddings and families in mind. Though the 4 children were quite young at the time, we imagined weddings, parties, hide and seek, grandchildren, the circle of life. The wedding steps descended around a gorgeous grotto fountain to a pool terrace with a long pool and a giant sycamore overlooking the entire garden centered on the pool. The pool garden was cantilevered over the lawns and an old oak and children’s play house dominated the lovely sweep of side garden borders with a balcony we designed to stretch across the back of the family room/kitchen which overlooked the landscape and woods beyond. There was the kitchen and dining terrace, the front entrance walk, a parking court, the front stoop, the vegetable gardens and the Beech Seat Garden. The gardens wrapped the front of the house, the side of the house and the rear of the house, built over time, they are expansive and accommodate a large and growing family in a home that has grown along with them.