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 !