Residential garden design & build — the old rectory plot

Before: A large, south-facing rear garden that was doing nothing — a big empty lawn, a few straggly conifers, and a family who'd moved in and didn't know where to start. They knew what they didn't want: a garden that looked like a show home or needed a full-time gardener.

After: A design-and-build that took the garden from empty to established in two seasons. Two usable terrace areas (one for eating, one for the children), a new lawn that the kids and dogs can actually use, and generous planted borders that give the whole plot structure and interest without demanding daily attention.

• Full measured design, drawn on site with the family, phased across two springs.
• New terraces laid on proper bases with a step detail that ties the levels together.
• Re-graded lawn, re-seeded, with workable shapes instead of awkward corners.
• Structural planting: native hedging along the boundary, multi-stem trees, and generous herbaceous planting chosen for a realistic maintenance load.
• Renewed the fence-line conifers into a proper hedge over two seasons.

"We had half-abandoned plans to do the garden for years. Dan came, listened, drew it, and then built it — and he was honest about what we should and shouldn't spend on. It's the best room in the house now."