The Home Office and Family Garden

I just thought it was time to start blogging and hopefully add some useful information to my website about some of the jobs I have been involved in recently

My clients have asked me to re-design their whole garden, the main driving force being that my client wants to build a home office in his garden as his four children require more space in the house (so he became surplus to requirements).

The garden "enjoys splendid views over the adjacent fields" (as the estate agents say) and my client wanted to maintain the rural feel, have a garden that was nice to look at and most importantly keep it as a family garden for his sporty children. The oldest child is about to become  a teenager and the triplets are aged nine, so I was also aware that the budding teenager will soon want somewhere just to hang out with her friends.

Needless to say having completed a survey (including levels using my new "dumpy level "and much eye squinting), talked to my clients at length and chewed my pencil for many hours, we  dismissed a few design ideas and settled , eventually on the final one. The eureka moment was achieved.

Probably one of the biggest recent learning curves has been my gradual switch from paper and pencil (other than the initial form and function diagrams) to using CAD software, which I really enjoy and I think gives a more professional finished product.

The main design features are very roughly a play garden one side and an area for grown-ups on the other (although hopefully no-one will really notice). The main path will be a well constructed bark path with raised oak sleeper beds near the house, for vegetables and herbs. There will be new decking for entertaining, the home office of course and a woodland area around the existing trees with meadow grass and wild flowers. We have included a new compost heap and moved the shed to the corner of the garden. A water feature will be added near the path as a focal point and the path will lead visitors past the sunken trampoline (an idea we are all excited about- why can I see this ending in tears with adults at midnight?) and the wooden kicking football wall, for the children to practise with both their left and right feet of course. Then under the pergola and safely back home.

My clients have subsequently commissioned me to prepare a planting plan- but more of that in a  later blog. The garden build is due to go ahead in March or April 2012 so there will be plenty of photos from that in the near future.

One recurring nuisance in my own garden are moles ! Don't they sleep for the winter ! In fact nibbling deer and hungry rabbits frequent many of the client's gardens that I visit in Brentwood and the surrounding district and so plants that aren't quite so attractive to said wildlife are often requested. Experiments show that rabbits in particular take no notice of the RHS website advice. As regard to my own mole problem, a lecturer at Writtle college claims that they appear at the same time every day in most gardens (approximately 4 pm) so I may build a hide in the garden and get a weapon ready or maybe train the dog to read the time .