A family garden that works for a barbecue and a football match.
One long lawn, one oak pergola, and hedging that finally gave the garden an edge.
The brief
A long, thin garden with a worn-out lawn, a rotting shed and no shelter. Two children under ten, a dog, and a family who eat outside from April to October. They asked for somewhere shaded to sit that did not feel like a conservatory.
What we built
- An oak pergola, 5m by 3.5m, on a stone base, sized around the table they already owned
- A new lawn from turf on 150mm of imported topsoil, with mowing stripes running the length
- Beech hedging to both boundaries to hide the fences and make the garden feel wider
- A stone path down one side so the lawn is not the route to the bins
- A small hard-standing at the far end where the shed was, ready for a future studio
How long it took
- Survey and concept: 2 weeks
- Drawings, oak schedule and costings: 3 weeks
- On site: 7 weeks, March to May
- Hedging planted the following November, bare-root
Other gardens we have finished
Same team, different ground: a steep slope, a walled courtyard, a
long lawn and a front garden with nowhere to park.
