Family Garden One Year On

The lights on the path have survived football so far

Andrew kindly invited round to his garden to see how it had developed over the past 12 months. There is a family of 6 who use the garden, and all the children enjoy sports so there are a lot of balls flying around.

The meadow grass has been allowed to grow quite long !

Planting by the home office

The garden is used by all the family for their various activities and I am pleased that the planting is beginning to fill the bed space.

The planting plan is informal, naturalistic planting which I think works well in this semi-rural setting.











Andrew runs a company from his home office which was the first thing that he needed in the garden as the children wanted their bedroom back at the house.

The new arrangement is much better for everybody and Andrew enjoys the views.

The decking with sunken light 

The bark path really suits the feel of the garden and is held well by the brick edging.














The lovely view across to the adjoining field is still there.

View from the House

Shed with grasses alongside

Given how difficult the landscaping was in the awful weather we had last April, it is very pleasing that it turned out so well.

Riding Stables Garden

View of the Site at the Back of the Stables

Existing Ramp from the Stables

I have been asked to create a garden on some ground at the back of riding stables for disabled children in Essex.

There is an existing slope suitable for wheelchairs but the rest of the ground is very stony with patchy, rough grass. The trustees of the stables have managed to arrange a days labour from a City firm which will be a band of about twenty willing volunteers, who will need supervision and a plan.

Full View

The trustees are looking for a garden which is both safe and pleasant to sit in for waiting parents and staff, when they get a chance !

New Ramp at an Angle, two sitting areas

I have created a design where the wheelchair slope is at 45 degrees from the back of the stable leading to a choice of routes to two sitting areas. The path is wide and a bright colour using resin based shingle suitable for wheelchairs etc. There is a raised bed next to the slope with strongly scented planting.

View from the Stable

There is a lawn between the stable and the path, and beyond the path is meadow grass with 50 percent wild flowers as the stables management are keen to attract bees, butterflies etc.

Top View with Labels

Current Brentwood Project

Lovely Hornbeams in the Rear Garden

My client has recently moved into a lovely property in Brentwood. It has a long 50 metre garden which stretches to the park and wood at the far end . The garden has received little attention of late, and has very few features or planting other than the two lovely hornbeams in the final third of the garden.

View down the garden to the house

My client has a family of six with teenage children and two dogs on the way !
He would like a pond, an area for growing vegetables, a shed and a garden in keeping with the woodland feel of the area.

The first thing I wanted to do was increase the size of the patio in keeping with the footprint of the house and I added a curved extension to the corner consisting of gravel with a brick edge. On this I added a pergola and a raised bed with a built in barbecue. 

View from the house

An important design feature was to improve the view down the garden and give it some width.  This was achieved by designing a serpentine lawn with a large bed of mixed planting on the left hand side to reduce the view down the garden to the end.






The path is made from reclaimed bricks and curves its way around the garden. There are beds on either side but the last third of the garden is meadow grass and at the very end is the shed and timber compost store.








Coming back down towards the house there will be a circular seat around the large hornbeam by the pond . The path will continue across the pond on a simple wooden bridge.

Close to the house will be the vegetable beds.

My client has also asked me to improve the look of the front garden and add some planting.

I have created some low curved beds without reducing the turning areas and suggested  some circular patterns in the driveway which lead visitors to the front door.
Planters near the house will also make the front of the house  a little softer.

Just need the rain to stop so we can get on with it now !

Surrey Front Garden

My client asked me to design a new front garden for her house in Surrey.  It is a terraced house set back from quite a busy road and although her preference is for quite an "arts and crafts" style garden, we agreed that it also had to be in keeping with the look and feel of the surrounding houses.

Existing Front Garden

In the middle of the path there is a large bowl to add another level with Sedum planting

We moved the entrance of the front garden to the left hand side and created a curving brick path to the front door.

There is an arch over the gate with a climbing rose.

Brick path to the Front Door


The hard landscaping is an area of meadow grass with wild flowers and a gravel area that runs from the house down to the new bin store.

Planting Plan

My client wanted a front garden that had some colour and a sense of welcoming. She was also keen to attract wildlife although as her and her husband both work, there is limited time for high levels of maintenance.

I included her favourite small tree (Lilac) as a focal point on the right hand side as one steps onto the path. There are also large grasses (Miscanthus) and in general a naturalistic scheme together with planting (Buxus) in planters by the front door.

Landscaping and Andrew's Special Birthday

Skip Arrives

Work began on the garden in early April, and everybody (me, Andrew the client  and Garry the landscaper) were very relaxed and lots of aspects of the job were discussed, but never the weather . We were in, or so we thought, a prolonged period of very dry weather and the newspaers were full of doom and gloom about hosepipe bans and record droughts.

Bear in mind that the plan was to finish the garden by the end of April which would give everybody plenty of time to prepare for Andrew's birthday on the 19th May to be held in the new garden. Even relaxing weekends away had been booked for May.

Turf Stripped

Digger Arrives !

The first couple of days went to plan and the garden was partly cleared and skips, diggers and dumpers put in place ready for the big offensive (there were often references to the 1st World War trenchs during the next few weeks).

But then the rains came............

Garry Woods the landscaper said after a few days of torrential rain that walking around the garden in the mud was "like walking around with crates on each foot". It was painful to watch as the rain would stop just for say 20 minutes and then it was back in the shed, and impossible and very frustrating to work.

The Trenchs

To quote the Met office:


April already wettest in a century
30 04 2012

This April is the wettest in the UK  in records which date back to 1910, according to early Met Office figures up to the 29^th of the month.
Further rain is to come overnight tonight as outbreaks of heavy and possibly thundery rain affect southern England and Wales, so final rainfall figures for the month will change.
However, the UK has already seen 121.8mm of rain so far – significantly more than the 69.6mm you would normally expect for the month and beating the previous record of 120.3mm set in 2000.


It really was a tough build for everybody and Andrew was naturally worried about the garden being anywhere near ready for his party.

Work Carrys On

April became May and the terrible weather continued although there was at least now the odd dry day which allowed some work to get completed. Fortunately the garden is on a slope away from the house so the combination of the slope and wind meant that the garden could dry out quite quickly.

Anyway everybody was determined to try and get the garden ready for the party and the lawn and meadow mat finally was laid in the week of the party and I did the planting on the day of the party ! Very " Ground Force" !

Working in the Rain

Get the Plants !

A Bit of Sunshine

Of course since the turf was laid and the plants planted- there has not been a drop of rain and Andrew has had to water 24 hors non- stop ! Ho hum

Pressures On, Party less than a Week away

Turf goes Down

Planting !

Sideway finished

Electrics In

Meadow Grass In

Decking Down

Night time

Path Lights

Fit for a Party

My Garden and Buildings !

Last year we decided that it would be useful to have a greenhouse although we did not really think we needed a minor Crystal Palace. With that task in mind, I came across (somewhere)  a lean-to version  that had been built very quickly using old leaded windows which I really liked the idea of. The appeal of re-cycling old materials and making a functional and interesting garden building, to my own  design for not too much cash also works for me.

The snow was extra.

I got the windows from e bay (another hobby) and as far as possible used wood that was around the house. I have to say that the wood from the concrete garage floor came in handy so just like the Great Escape really.

It was nice little project and we are both quite pleased with, it even if it does leak just a tad at the join ! But it is different .Just got to use it to grow something useful now.



We have lived in our cottage for over twenty years and every day walked past the old concrete garage that we inherited , most of which is in the garden. In January a piece of it actually fell out so we decided to bite the bullet and replace it with something a bit more green.

As anybody with a shed/garage will testify to, there is a lot of stuff in there to move out for starters including our friendly rats (attractive huh ?). Also concrete garages are not light and of course I realised that there was every chance that the roof had a least a little asbestos in it, which makes for another small complication.

So shopping for the new one was the good bit (which I got locally in the end, having trawled the Internet, but realising it is much better if you can touch and feel one before you buy it) and then I needed to ask (pay) my number two son Tom and his good friend Ashley to help me dismantle it. I was proud (but insured) of the selling job I did on how safe really asbestos is to work with.

The space was successfully cleared although I still have the asbestos roofing which I will eventually take to a neighbouring council who don't charge to remove it.

Very pleased with the new shed which I have supplied with electricity and also I have insulated it, so it's a home from home really. Just the shelving and bench to be added ! Should give me many happy hours playing .

Planting Plan and Home Office

The garden office arrived just  before Christmas and although the base was bigger than we imagined, once the building was put in place, we thought  it looked really good and just perfect for what Andrew requires.

Landscapers have been appointed and I have created the planting plan and agreed it all with the clients. The planting style is naturalistic and will fit in well with the country aspect of the garden.

Rooftop Garden in Singapore

Another very enjoyable activity during these winter months has been to attend the series of James Hearsum lectures at Writtle College. They have been running at about one a month at Writtle College and the quality and diversity of the speakers has been first class. Last evening I listened to James Wong (of Grow Your Own Drugs fame on TV, and four gold medals at Chelsea !) who spoke about the Future of Horticulture although his slides were all of Singapore, his first home, so the connection was probably a bit tenuous ?  That said the state policy of ensuring buildings include "green spaces" is something that our cities could learn from.

My favourite speaker was probably Andy Sturgeon (very famous designer and also holder of numerous Chelsea medals) who had a really good sense of humour and interestingly not a huge plant knowledge (my opinion). Another garden designer described him as  a very good project manager, maybe a bit harsh. Anyway very entertaining, as was the wonderfully named Dusty Gedge (not hedge) who spoke about his green roof projects which include the tops of several skyscrapers in Canary Wharf.

The speaker that I found most interesting though was Stephen Crisp the Head Gardener, at Winfield House home of the US Ambassador to the UK. He has been there a number of years and has completed a number of stunning projects within a very tight budget. How he improvised and the volume of work he gets through was very impressive.

If you get the chance to hear any of these people speak I would recommend making the effort- a great way to spend a winters evening.