Chesswood

The Challenge

Simon and Liz wanted the uninspired garden of their 1930s home to benefit from a professional landscape project, with luxury garden design. It presented one of our most challenging projects yet in terms of skill, technical aspects and volume of work – and all the more so as we started this project going into winter… A lesson learnt there!

The Garden Design and Creation

We created a bespoke garden design for Simon and Liz, replacing paving to the front of their home, a two-level patio, seating areas and a gorgeous plant design scheme.

Having dealt with the concrete jungle under the existing paving, the groundworks phase included measuring out and spraying the areas, getting our finished heights set up and establishing the fall of the hardstanding areas using the laser and pegs. The first element to be installed was the concrete footing for the wall, followed by the blockwork the steps and the stone bench. Sleepers provided the base for the structure of the decking; these needed to be concreted in, along with the posts for the batten screens. We built the framework for the decking (which we covered in deck tape of course), put geo-membrane down, brought in the scalping sub-base and compacted it with the whacker plate. 

Moving onto the lower patio (featuring serenity grey porcelain), we installed balau decking (notice the mitre cut detail in the corners), and cedar batten fencing by the bench and the side gate area. We then constructed the upper patio and built the framework for the bench.

An addition was made here, in the form of extra batten screens and 4-metre-high, black-stemmed bamboo to hide the neighbour’s unsightly fence. Not keen on the idea of fence paint, Simon and Liz liked our alternative planting suggestion; it was more expensive, but in keeping with the rest of the design and created an additional garden feature.

While the guys levelled the soil, turfed, built the new screens and planted the bamboo, Adam created the copings for the wall, bench and steps. This was a lengthy process that included cutting the stone to size, bull nosing to get those lovely rounded edges, polishing to get a smooth finish and then installing a drip line which acts as a barrier against rainwater reaching the wall and causing damage. Extra touches like this really make a project. 

A final alteration was made. We had agreed that metal edging would be used to retain the soil along the original hedge line but, when it came to it, we felt that it wouldn’t look quite right. When we proposed to use small gabion cages filled with Scottish cobbles instead, our clients immediately agreed. This feature truly looks the part, and finished the quality landscaping approach.

The New Garden Landscape

With the copings laid, cedar battens created the seating area, the rustic slate wall cladding was added and lighting was installed by Jelvis. The transformation was complete for a stylish garden that Simon and Liz could enjoy every day of the year.

It was a joy to return a few months later in early spring, not only to catch up with these wonderful clients but to supply and install a gorgeous selection of plants from North Hill Nursery. Simon and Liz were a pleasure to work with throughout; we loved their enthusiasm and excitement at every stage of the project and how well they looked after the whole team.