Royds Park Case Study

This house on Kingsdale Avenue is fairly typical of the new houses in Royds Park.

The garden is small and rectangular surrounded by a six foot high paling fence and the builders left it turfed with a flagstone patio. The garden is accessed through a utility room back door and also patio doors, leading from a play/living room.

Requirements

My clients were a young couple with a baby boy. They wanted a garden that looked good from the house, that didn't take a lot of looking after, and that would provide somewhere for their boy to play, at least while he was still pre-school. They also specified that they had a limited budget to spend.

Design

After surveying the garden I produced some plans and drawings that I discussed with my clients. After one or two slight adjustments the garden was built over the summer and planted in the Autumn.

In my design I have tried to draw the viewers attention away from the severe rectangular boundary by creating a tear drop shaped lawn, emphasised by the surrounding bricks, raised border edge and shaped deck.

The deck is much larger than the original patio, making it far more practical and by being raised to the height of the doors, links the garden to the house.

The pergola spanning the path serves two purposes. Firstly by providing a break it helps give the garden a bigger feel by suggesting there is more to see beyond. This is emphasised more by the optical illusion created by the pergola's joists not being parallel. Secondly the pergola has been built to act as a support for a baby swing - a much more attractive addition to a garden than a metal swing frame.

The back of the garden has two raised vegetable beds and a sandpit with a cover that converts it into a "coffee" table. There is also a bench around the sandpit and long-term plans are to cut "windows" into the fence so the outstanding view beyond can be enjoyed from the seat.

The planting is designed to provide all year round colour and interest and to be low maintenance. The trees are planted to provide privacy at the back of the garden and will help to make the space feel bigger by providing a barrier, stopping an observer from seeing the whole of the garden from one viewpoint.

For more information or for a free no-obligation quote, please drop me an email or give me a call on 07951 455451