SHEPARD BUTLER LANDSCAPE ASSOCIATES   vermont landscape architects

The Barnard Farm stretches over 500 acres in central Vermont and is the successful result of a two year collaboration between SBLD and the Dallas, Texas based Architect, Ralph Duesing. Together, the team turned a once defunct dairy farm into a fully functioning Gentleman’s Farm.  The farm now consists of a main residence, guest house, sugar house, a folly, gardens, pastures, a restored dairy barn, and numerous other farm structures to house the resident horse, cattle, alpaca, donkey, and sheep. In addition to these items, SBLA integrated a vast trail network through the historic sugar bush for both hiking and equestrian use. Much of the materials for the trail network, including the handrails and steps were sustainably harvested and constructed on site using the native Hemlock and Hophornbeam dispersed within the forest. The site’s gardens are temporal and quirky. The viewing garden’s concept at the Main Residence was extracted from the multiple forms that make up the house.  Boulders, blanketed with Moss, were searched for and located on the site and now create the raised square frame for the garden. The Architect’s raised walkway which connects the house to a cabin slices through the boulder frame and the plethora of contained plants including, Champion Wood Fern (Dryopteris championii), Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumale), and a grove of fastigiate Oak (Quercus palustris 'Pringreen’).