A Cascading Mettawa Paradise

This 5 acre partially wooded site provided the perfect location to create an outdoor entertainment area for this family.

The homeowners asked to have the rear yard remain open, the mature trees preserved to create a park-like setting, and to develop an outdoor activity center with a pool and spa.

Our design team created a series of terraces starting at the drive court.  From there, one enters the pool/spa area through two stone gated columns that use the same tumbled fieldstone as the house. The first small, spa terrace is adjacent to the guest house and screened from the drive court by an iron fence covered with Clematis, Climbing Hydrangea and Roses. The tumbled fieldstone and bluestone spa is nestled into the hillside and surrounded by Cranberry Cotoneaster and a variety of flowering perennials and grasses.

Water flows from the spa over a waterfall, cascading down granite boulders and through outcropping stones into a stream that ends at the lower pool level.

Placing the pool in an area with such a dramatic grade change kept the pool from being the central focus of the yard while allowing the homeowners to see swimmers from the house.  The remaining hillside was transformed into a lush garden area with outcropping stones stabilizing the hillside and providing planting pockets rich with perennials, grasses and groundcovers.