A raised mosaic pool on a timber deck, stepping down through grasses and old gums toward open paddocks.

On Pennell Street in Eltham North, a large bushland block falls away from a new white house toward open paddocks. We kept the existing gums and let the landscape design follow the slope. A raised pool and spa, wrapped in green grey mosaic, sits at the edge of a pale timber deck. Wide stairs and frameless glass lead down to the garden, where a curved lawn runs between the trees.

Below the pool, mulched beds of feathery grasses and ferns meet the lawn, and blocks of stone serve as low seats beneath a retained gum. The design has been built and the planting is still establishing, so photographs will follow once it has grown in. It is a pool and garden design shaped by Melbourne's north east bushland.