Chaumont Group Project - Masterplan

As part of the 5-week group project for the Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire Garden Festival, one of my tasks was to render the layout plan the group came up with. Attached is the revised plan created in Photoshop. The theme of the garden is based on Celtic mythology, focusing on stone circles, Crataegus (Hawthorn)  trees and Aes Sídhe who live in those trees and under 'fairy mounds'. Aside from traditional stone circles, the composition of the garden also draws inspiration from Irish ringforts. Also known as Fairy forts, lios or raths are the remains of stone circles, ringforts, hillforts, or other circular prehistoric dwellings. Built from around the late Iron Age to early Christian times, with earth banks or ditches. 

Tradition claims that ringforts are imbued with druids' magic, and the early pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland who built the forts became known as the mythical Tuatha Dé Danann and Fir Bolg. Fairy forts and prehistoric tumuli were seen as entrances to the other world, and even cutting brush, especially hawthorn, around fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act.

The design itself tricks the visitor into entering the ring by obscuring the view of the whole garden with tall boulders at the entrance. You only realise the blunder once you are standing in the centre and can see the circle. The central water feature is intended to be interactive, allowing visitors to walk through the shallow pebbled pond without shoes to experience the sensorial properties of the river-rock, and the secondary stump path around the feature Crataegus is tailored more towards children but suitable for all ages. To exaggerate the scale of the garden and give the planting more depth, mirrors are to be strategically placed around the plot and angled on site to reflect the planting. Creating a tardis-esque effect.