Our initial site visit will determine the client's needs, style and preferences. To give you some ideas, we can show you our portfolio of recently completed gardens. After some discussion, we will be able to produce a quotation and design brief for you to consider. Our most important aim at this stage is to work with the existing space in a sensitive way, which reflects the personality of the clients as much as the ‘spirit of the place’.

It is at this stage that we can also discuss your budget, though to be fair, most people do not have any pre-conceived idea as to how much garden landscaping costs. Because we design and build gardens, we are able to design to a budget. We can also design a basic garden with a number of add-ons, allowing you to realise a basic version of your garden quickly with further developments added on at a later phase.

Generally speaking, we design the garden according to your guidelines, but with the added element of creativity thrown in. For example, we never design a garden with: a deck, a lawn, a water feature etc… we always make sure these elements all work together in an integrated design.

We also make sure the client feels comfortable with the design process…this means when we come back with our initial design ideas, this is an excellent time to get your reaction and find out if we are going in the right direction with our design. Often we get feedback at this stage, and are very happy to change, therefore leaving the client at the end of that meeting feeling confident with the way forward.

Once we have the 'go ahead' we will complete a detailed survey of the garden to include levels and all existing plant material. We make a careful note of all existing shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants (we will help you decide which plants should stay, discuss if any should be removed, or perhaps it’s possible to move a plant to a new place.) Bear in mind that the definition of a weed is simply ‘a plant in the wrong place’!

We also consider very carefully at this stage the various soil conditions of the site, we carry out a PH test which shows the acidity level of the existing soil and also note which type of plants (if any) are doing well. Additionally, we examine the quality of the soil, whether it be heavy (with underlying clay), or loamy, sandy etc… All of these factors need to be considered when designing the proposed planting scheme.

The detailed survey and the client brief will allow us to start work. Generally, this means concept sketches are produced with a view to formulating one single strong design direction. Once we are happy we will arrange to come and see you so that we can show our progress. This session is often an opportunity to 'brainstorm’ and a chance for you to provide feedback. Normally, after this session, we would be confident to progress to the final, detailed design.

We are being asked more and more for gardens, which have a special theme. We are happy to cater to our clients needs, whatever the brief. Recent requests have been, for example:

Children’s Play Areas - Whether it’s a consideration of a play surface or siteing of kid’s play centres, these need to be considered as part of an overall garden plan.

Sustainable Gardens - These may include: fruit and vegetable area, rainwater harvesting, and extended composting areas etc...

Garden Lighting Schemes - Important for outdoor entertaining and also the evening view of the garden from the house can be dramatically different from the daytime version.

Community Gardens - We have designed and built several community gardens, all serving specific purposes e.g. specialist children’s needs to broader community projects.

Designing is a very subjective process and it is important that you are happy with our ideas before we progress them.

The final part of the design process means finishing the scaled master plan drawing in colour, and also providing a 3d perspective sketch to help you visualise your proposed scheme. We use a handrawing process for many designs, and increasingly, computer aided design (CAD) programmes, such as Autocad, Sketchup, Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to facilitate and help realise our design ideas.

At this stage we would normally complete the detailed planting plan. This would also be a scale drawing and show in detail all the shrubs, trees, herbaceous perennials and any spring and summer flowering bulbs to be used. Here again, it is possible to amend any of the planting suggestions to suit your taste. As a general rule, we aim for 60% - 70% of a scheme to be evergreen, to give all year round colour and form. We aim to create a balance between bold structural plant forms and softer more colourful, flowering elements. We are aware of keeping things low maintenance where possible and also take into consideration any special requirements you may have (e.g. if you are away for a long period in the summer it would be wise to consider drought-resistant planting).

Our drawings will also show lighting suggestions.

Our aim is to leave you excited by our design proposals. Once you are completely happy with your drawings and 3d visualisations, we will have reached the end of the design process.

Please note: We do not normally offer detailed construction drawings as part of our regular design package, although if these are deemed necessary we will be happy to provide these for a small extra charge.

Following on from the design phases, we will be happy to provide you with a detailed costing for constructing your new garden. We also offer a project management service if you have your own contractor in mind. Or if necessary we can seamlessly organise the construction and planting of your garden. Our team of skilled landscapers can complete the scheme to your satisfaction.