Hand on heart who can honestly say they enjoy going to the dentist? If you go to Paul Kletz in Southover - yes, it is within the domain of the TRA - before you are lowered into his dental chair you are likely to be asked by Paul to take a look at his stylish garden. Your instant reaction is to say "Wow! The garden is amazing"

Some seven years ago Paul realised his ambition to design his dream garden to add a calming and comfortable experience for his patients. With this in mind, he had his entire back garden de-grassed, flattened, denuded of plants apart from the laurel hedge to the rear and the willow tree positioned centrally near the bottom of the garden. Subsequently the willow sadly died - maybe in mourning to losing its vegetational colleagues to the bulldozer? It now stands there, its bare-barked trunk and twin branches reaching to the sky, a silhouette in stunning sculptural submission.

Paul now had his blank canvas some 30 by 70 foot in size on which to compose his horticultural composition from his surgery window. The turned earth was covered with a heavy PVC membrane. Holes were dug under his direction in certain strategic vantage points where mainly yuccas and the odd bamboo were planted as well as an elegant silver birch in direct line to the dentist's chair.

The entire garden was covered in shingle, apart from a curving paved pathway which leads to a cosy, circular patio area half-way down the garden. Here on a pleasant day Paul and his staff can enjoy refreshments and seek shelter in the shade of the yucca. This forms a staunch sculptural image with its dramatic branch formation about six foot high and still growing in all directions. The border with each neighbour (left and right) is planted with an evergreen curtain of bamboo to create absolute seclusion.

Paul has departed from the conventional garden technique to introduce a sober, neat, relatively maintenance-free "working garden" so that each plant "feature" appears to relate to the other. He mentioned: "When embarking on an Antipodean garden of this style one must be conservative with planting to create a striking minimalist evergreen effect. The bamboo is surprisingly prolific in growth and needs to be manicured constantly to retain this neat, architectural concept." His gardener comes fortnightly and cuts back the bamboo with vengeance.

He has completed his canvas to create a picture of privacy, peace and space - so as you are slowly raised once more into homosapien stance, remember to take that last glance at Paul's truly fascinating garden.

Eileen Eskenzi