BALI Awards 2026
Having recently bought the property, our clients asked us to design and build a garden that met their needs and transformed what they had inherited. It was the third garden we have designed and built for them, so the project began from a strong understanding and an established working relationship.
At the front, the brief was for more softness: a garden area in front of the door, visually separated from the drive. Lowering the beech hedge brought more light into the house, and the awkward box hedging and artificial turf were removed. The block paving by the front door was replaced with paving lifted from the rear garden, reused to form the new entrance and paths.
At the rear, the old paving was slipping down the slope on made-up ground. The new terrace uses far less paving and brings planting up to the house, so you sit within a garden rather than on a raft of paving. A water feature completes the scheme.
A low retaining wall and steps level the lawn and make the garden far more usable. Because the terrace sits on made-up ground, it needed extensive foundations and blockwork.
A utility area behind the garage brings together a new shed, bin and log storage, the oil tank and the gas bottles, screened by a new yew hedge and reached by a removable timber ramp, chosen by the clients during the build in place of steps. The perched timber platform was replaced with a larger Millboard deck, better proportioned and placed to catch the late afternoon sun.
The lower lawn is kept deliberately simple, with tree planting for height and seasonal colour, leaving room for the garden to extend in future.
The Completed Garden
During construction
Before we started
