A Room of One’s Own: the whimsical garden sanctuary of Beata Heuman

Growing up on an idyllic farm in southern Sweden, Beata Heuman was immersed in nature and storytelling. When she wasn’t playing with her doll’s house or drawing, she’d be outside exploring. “I didn’t have many friends around so I had to make my own fun,” says Beata. “I’d think up a whole cast of characters like the troll down by the stream, or Old Lady Thaw who lived further away.” As she became acquainted with every tree and rock, the surrounding forest became her sequestered realm, and a breeding ground for her imagination.

Now an interior designer, Beata trained under Nicky Haslam for almost a decade, before setting up her eponymous studio in 2013. Ensconced in her west London home, Beata has a garden of her own once again – modest in size but an ample canvas for her creativity. “My horticultural tastes have been informed by my mother Kristina, an avid gardener. But I didn’t know anything about plants or how to look after them, so I was excited to learn,” she says.

It was exactly 10 years ago that Beata and her husband John Finlay first set eyes on their Victorian house and were smitten. “On weekends we would stand outside and just stare at it.” The couple inherited a charming garden that the previous owners, Henry and Ginny, had spent 20 years nurturing, but parts were lost or destroyed when Beata extended the back of the house and built a patio. In the years that followed, the designer was too busy raising her two children and running a business to tend to it. As we speak, she’s juggling six different projects across the globe. I ask if that’s typical. “Yes, but we actually keep it quite small compared to other firms – quality over quantity.” 

In autumn 2023, Beata decided to tackle the garden, enlisting landscape and garden designer Elizabeth Tyler. “Her style isn’t too manicured,” says Beata. “It’s very English and overflowing.” Elizabeth showed sensitivity to the history of the garden, working around some of the well-established plants, including a romantic archway dripping with jasmine and a prolific apple tree: “It’s a bit of a nuisance; I’ve never seen a tree bear so much fruit and I have spoiled children who only eat Pink Ladies!”

The layering of old and new textures and tones gives the sense that the space has evolved over time and is integral to Beata’s own designs. “I’m glad to have things with more of an age, so that it hasn’t all been added at once. I think about that a lot for interiors.”

Restraining her penchant for detail, Beata worked hard to step back and let Elizabeth take the reins. “I am quite controlling but I was intent on trusting her.” Nevertheless, she couldn’t resist getting involved with the tonal palette. Known for her joyful and irreverent approach to colour, Beata favoured bold, clashing hues, while Elizabeth chose white and soft pinks. Having met in the middle, the garden is punctuated with purple, yellow and orange flowers – but Elizabeth put her foot down with red. “She describes this as a really wild mix, but if anything I think it’s a bit restrained,” says Beata, amused. A few minutes later, a potted red geranium is placed on the patio table for the shoot. We agree it looks nice. “Lizzy won’t like that but she’s not here,” laughs Beata.

Earlier this year the designer collaborated with paint company Mylands on The Dependables collection. “My idea was to create the only 24 colours you would need.” Her house and garden make the case. The two wooden benches at the back, snagged for £60 at an auction, were refreshed in a yellow-green hue wittily called ‘Caca d’Oie’ (literally translating to ‘goose poop’ in English, but more commonly used to describe this particular earthy shade of green).

The windows were refinished in ‘Pub’, a soft black that Beata feels gives them a more delicate look. “People often paint their windows and render bright white, which ends up looking dirty very quickly,” she says. “As a general rule for exteriors, it’s nice to keep colours quite natural but have unexpected pops.”

Two winding paths of London Stock Brick have replaced an uninviting lawn that once occupied the middle section of the garden. “Lizzy’s idea of using matching brick is clever as it feels like a natural extension of the building, and it looks like they’ve always been there.” The paths start at either side of the house, snaking through generous beds, converging at the back patio as if it were a stage. Halfway up the garden, two new hedges will grow to form wave-like buttresses mirroring the curves of the patio trellis, adding a touch of drama. Together, these elements create an enchanting mise-en-scène – quietly theatrical and fitting for the fantastical creatures she conjured in childhood. 

The summer house, seemingly plucked from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, was christened ‘Chatsworth’ by Ginny and Henry. Inside the sage-green pavilion, a vivid red interior offers a delicious counterpoint, and seating for reading and sipping drinks. Above hangs a 19th-century glass globe, known as a witch’s ball, once used to ward off evil spirits – and now her husband. “John is almost two metres tall and always bumps his head on it. I should probably hoick it up.”

The garden is a lesson in spatial economy. “It’s quite small but I’m impressed how Elizabeth added such depth and created a varied vista that really extends the house,” says Beata. Four different ‘rooms’ have been carved out within the space: the shady patio at the back is home to a large pizza oven – the family often gather here to cook pizzas, but also whole chicken and vegetables. 

In contrast, the east-facing terrace by the kitchen is a sun trap and serves as a repository of memories. Beata’s decorative mural behind, featuring faux columns, was inspired by the facade of the historic Porcelain Museum in the Boboli Gardens of Florence, the city where she studied Italian and fine art. The terrace floor adds a further flavour of Italy, with pink and beige chequered marble tiles influenced by the courtyard at the Venice apartment of cookery writer Skye McAlpine.

Standing on the threshold between the dining room and terrace, straddling her two creative worlds, I ask how she feels the garden reflects her. “It is very kept and looked after, but it’s also sprawling, wild and not totally controlled  – I don’t know whether that’s me or not, but I’d like it to be.”

Beata Heuman’s design studio

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