Where we work
Gardens in Keeneland Downs.
Rolling horse-farm country west of Lexington: limestone slopes, old dry-stone walls, and long views that a garden must frame rather than fight.
Keeneland Downs properties come with the two materials this studio loves most: grade and limestone. The slopes that make lawns difficult here make gardens extraordinary, and the dry-stone walls that line the pikes set a standard our masons are happy to be measured against. Much of our terracing and wall work happens in this part of the county.
Design in the Downs usually means editing a view rather than creating one. The long sightlines across neighboring farms are the property's real fortune; our plans borrow them, frame them between planted masses, and screen the one direction that needs screening with staggered redcedar rather than fence.
Foxhill Terraces, one of the named gardens in our portfolio, sits on a Keeneland Downs hillside, and several estates in our stewardship program are neighbors to it. Autumn build slots in the Downs are typically committed by July.
We lived here nine years without touching that hill. Now dinner ends up on the middle terrace so often we keep a basket of blankets by the back door.Margaret & Tom Whitfield, Keeneland Downs (fictional, illustrative)
From the portfolio
Foxhill Terraces, Keeneland Downs
A steep, unusable limestone slope behind a 1920s stone house, rebuilt as three garden rooms connected by a stair the family now uses daily.
Begin with a walk in the garden.
The first meeting is a morning on your property: no drawings, no obligation, just an honest read of the ground and how you want to live on it.
Or call the studio: (555) 045-2500