Latest news with #Coxall
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
How to hide from the neighbours (without them even noticing)
Everyone has things they want to hide and, for many of us, it's our neighbours. As cities become denser, everything gets closer. Houses, high-rises, parked cars and busy streets are almost always in view. Obscuring them can become an obsession. While built structures are one way of masking what you don't want to see, another is to use plants to create naturalistic-feeling green screens. Mixes of trees, shrubs and climbers can be strategically placed to filter or block views, absorb sound, provide shelter from wind and generally create a sense of privacy. These plantings also provide habitat for wildlife. As landscape architect Sarah Hicks puts it, screen planting is a 'useful buffer on so many levels'. Hicks is a director at Emergent Studios, the outfit that designed the garden that this month took out the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects' top Victorian garden award. This 'Hedge House' garden contains screen planting at every turn. Loading Naturalistic screen planting has also been incorporated in the grounds of 'Nine', a new residential development in Sydney shortlisted for the NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects awards. Landscape architect Philip Coxall, chairman and director of design at McGregor Coxall, says the landscaping at Sydney's former Channel 9 studios at Willoughby incorporates a variety of trees and shrubs to block views between different apartment buildings, to create privacy in courtyards and to shield residents from the street. Happily for home gardeners, many of the loose, relaxed-feeling screens that Hicks and Coxall have fashioned can be readily adapted to other situations. More failsafe than formal, single-species hedges, every plant doesn't have to thrive to ensure an overall rhythm is maintained. 'You never know whether each plant is going to succeed, and if there is not a regular pattern you don't miss a plant that dies,' Coxall says. But the first screen you see at 'Hedge House' does actually have a regular pattern. It is a historic, perfectly sheared cypress hedge that is dense and sculptural and that, from inside the garden, creates a clear sense of removal from the street. 'I see it as spatially valuable and I imagine it is also providing habitat value,' Hicks says. 'It is now the oldest part of the property and there was no question of removing it, we were all on the same page.'
The Age
6 days ago
- General
- The Age
How to hide from the neighbours (without them even noticing)
Everyone has things they want to hide and, for many of us, it's our neighbours. As cities become denser, everything gets closer. Houses, high-rises, parked cars and busy streets are almost always in view. Obscuring them can become an obsession. While built structures are one way of masking what you don't want to see, another is to use plants to create naturalistic-feeling green screens. Mixes of trees, shrubs and climbers can be strategically placed to filter or block views, absorb sound, provide shelter from wind and generally create a sense of privacy. These plantings also provide habitat for wildlife. As landscape architect Sarah Hicks puts it, screen planting is a 'useful buffer on so many levels'. Hicks is a director at Emergent Studios, the outfit that designed the garden that this month took out the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects' top Victorian garden award. This 'Hedge House' garden contains screen planting at every turn. Loading Naturalistic screen planting has also been incorporated in the grounds of 'Nine', a new residential development in Sydney shortlisted for the NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects awards. Landscape architect Philip Coxall, chairman and director of design at McGregor Coxall, says the landscaping at Sydney's former Channel 9 studios at Willoughby incorporates a variety of trees and shrubs to block views between different apartment buildings, to create privacy in courtyards and to shield residents from the street. Happily for home gardeners, many of the loose, relaxed-feeling screens that Hicks and Coxall have fashioned can be readily adapted to other situations. More failsafe than formal, single-species hedges, every plant doesn't have to thrive to ensure an overall rhythm is maintained. 'You never know whether each plant is going to succeed, and if there is not a regular pattern you don't miss a plant that dies,' Coxall says. But the first screen you see at 'Hedge House' does actually have a regular pattern. It is a historic, perfectly sheared cypress hedge that is dense and sculptural and that, from inside the garden, creates a clear sense of removal from the street. 'I see it as spatially valuable and I imagine it is also providing habitat value,' Hicks says. 'It is now the oldest part of the property and there was no question of removing it, we were all on the same page.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pothole fake legs 'joke' leads to loan requests
A man who drew attention to a large water-filled pothole by placing a pair of fake legs upside down in it said many people with similar watery woes had asked to borrow them after his stunt proved successful. James Coxall put the "legs" in a pothole on Haverhill Road in Castle Camps, on the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border on 23 February. Within days of his photo being publicised, Cambridgeshire County Council fixed the hole, which initially appeared about eight months ago. Mr Coxall said while the legs were just a bit of fun, his "joke" attracted media attention across the UK and as far afield as Canada, and people were now asking to borrow the legs to draw attention to their own long-standing potholes. Mr Coxall, a 41-year-old carpenter, said his family just wanted to "have a bit of fun" with the pothole. Although it was not a busy road, if there were oncoming vehicles you would "have to either stop, or hit the pothole" and risk a blown tyre, he said. Their "pothole person" creation, made using old jeans, colourful shoes, rags and wood was placed in the deep hole, and weighed down with a brick. Photographs of it were shared from various social media sites and Mr Coxall said people seemed to "love it", and he was known locally as "a bit of a joker". It was picked up by a number of media outlets, and more locally, Mr Coxall has been receiving requests from people wanting to borrow the legs in the hope of highlighted that their own potholes need fixing. On the day the council workers arrived to fill in the Haverhill Road hole, Mr Coxall's wife rescued the legs and they are now in the family's back garden. "A lot of people would like them, and I don't know about that, but as I'm a carpenter, I might try something else - like the Titanic or a submarine - I could build those," he said. He added he had received a number of messages about council workers marking up other potholes in the south of the county over the weekend and while he was not sure his "legs" were the impetus behind the work, he hoped his stunt had helped. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Fake legs used as a pointer for pothole 'Pothole World' sign mocks county's roads Massive pothole proving difficult to fix 'Self-healing' roads aim to solve pothole crisis Facebook: Odd Things Around Cambridge
BBC News
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Demand for fake legs used as a pointer for Cambridgeshire pothole
A man who drew attention to a large water-filled pothole by placing a pair of fake legs upside down in it said many people with similar watery woes had asked to borrow them after his stunt proved successful. James Coxall put the "legs" in a pothole on Haverhill Road in Castle Camps, on the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border on 23 days of his photo being publicised, Cambridgeshire County Council fixed the hole, which initially appeared about eight months Coxall said while the legs were just a bit of fun, his "joke" attracted media attention across the UK and as far afield as Canada, and people were now asking to borrow the legs to draw attention to their own long-standing potholes. Mr Coxall, a 41-year-old carpenter, said his family just wanted to "have a bit of fun" with the pothole. Although it was not a busy road, if there were oncoming vehicles you would "have to either stop, or hit the pothole" and risk a blown tyre, he "pothole person" creation, made using old jeans, colourful shoes, rags and wood was placed in the deep hole, and weighed down with a brick. Photographs of it were shared from various social media sites and Mr Coxall said people seemed to "love it", and he was known locally as "a bit of a joker".It was picked up by a number of media outlets, and more locally, Mr Coxall has been receiving requests from people wanting to borrow the legs in the hope of highlighted that their own potholes need fixing. On the day the council workers arrived to fill in the Haverhill Road hole, Mr Coxall's wife rescued the legs and they are now in the family's back garden."A lot of people would like them, and I don't know about that, but as I'm a carpenter, I might try something else - like the Titanic or a submarine - I could build those," he added he had received a number of messages about council workers marking up other potholes in the south of the county over the weekend and while he was not sure his "legs" were the impetus behind the work, he hoped his stunt had helped. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Man, Tired of Dealing with Potholes in His Town, Gets Officials' Attention with Hilarious Eye-Catching Prank
A British man fed up with the condition of a road near his village finally put a foot down — or in this case, legs up. On Sunday, Feb. 23, James Coxall put a pair of fake legs — outfitted with jeans and a pair of colorful sneakers — in a large puddle created by a pothole on Haverhill Road in the Cambridgeshire village of Castle Camps in England, according to the BBC. The 41-year-old carpenter told the outlet that he set up the prank after the gaping crater — one of several potholes on the road — remained unrepaired for eight months. Coxall said that while the road is not busy, drivers would "have to either stop or hit the pothole" if they encountered any oncoming traffic. Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger Fills 'Giant' Potholes Himself, But Officials Say It's an Active Gas Service Trench Deciding to "have a bit of fun" with the frustrating road situation, Coxall, his wife and kids gathered up some old clothes and rags and turned them into a pair of legs clothed in jeans and shoes. "The shoes were going to charity anyway, so we thought we'd give them an outing first," Coxall told the BBC. "We stuffed the jeans with old rags and I used some wood to keep the legs sturdy and upright." He placed the legs in the puddle, with the feet sticking up in the air, using a brick to weigh down his creation. Then, he posted a photo of his prank on the Facebook group, Odd Things Around Cambridge, and another local Haverhill group, quickly earning quite a few likes. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "It's just a bit of fun, and I've had lots of messages about it," Coxall told the BBC. "People seem to like it around here, but then, I am known as a bit of a joker." Coxall's eye-catching stunt eventually paid off, as the Cambridgeshire County Council told the outlet one of its highways officers would come out to inspect the road and "repairs will be made as required." The county also advised residents to utilize its online pothole reporting tool. Read the original article on People
