Olive Court

Three mature olives stood in a courtyard that had been paved over twice. We lifted the concrete, kept the trees, and laid a pale gravel floor that drains in a single afternoon.

A low stone fountain sits off-axis so the olives keep the center. Terracotta walls were limewashed rather than replaced. Shade is the primary architecture; planting is a quiet understory of rosemary, thyme, and white iris.

The courtyard is used as an outdoor room — meals, reading, the slow hours after heat. It does not ask to be photographed. It asks to be sat in.