As usual, here’s the latest situation of some of our projects to give an idea of the range of work that we do. Despite the vagaries of the weather there’s been a fair bit of progress with our ‘live’ projects on site this month, though of course it would have been even better with a more stable weather pattern.
In Rowledge the construction work is progressing on the garden we’ve designed for a new build house with 5 acres of grounds and around 1 acre of designated garden. The site sits on the side of a small valley so there is a considerable slope from the house to the bottom of the garden, and to make the site more useable for the owner’s family our design includes a level lawn area close to the house. This required a fair bit of construction, but most of the retaining walls are now built (see the image below) and work is proceeding on the paving and preparation for planting. We’re now working on the planting plan and are looking forward to the increasingly rare opportunity to plant some native English Oak to enhance the landscape for years to come.
In Weybridge we are nearing completion on the first phase of the formal gardens for an early 20th century tile hung house with a garden of around 1/3 acre. The contractors have now returned to the site to hang the new bespoke metal railings that will give the property’s frontage its own individual character - more photos to follow in due course.
In Farnborough both of our projects have started construction on site. The first of these is a sloping site which is being transformed into a terraced garden with water linking the different levels. As long as the weather is favourable the contractor expects to have the hard landscaping complete by mid July, but that leaves us at rather a poor time of year to be investing a reasonable sum of money in plants for a new garden. We’ve agreed with the client that we’ll have to play things by ear when it comes to the planting - if we get the warm, wet summer that’s been predicted then we may be OK but the client is prepared to defer the bulk of the planting to later in the year if necessary.
Our second project in Farnborough is for a house which is currently undergoing refurbishment. The back garden also has a fair slope on it and as it hadn’t been touched for years it had slowly turned into a jungle, so even a quick clear out and spruce up would have been a major undertaking. The new garden includes a barbecue area and space for a hot tub as well as a reasonable lawn to allow the kids (of all ages!) to play. The site has been cleared and the main construction is scheduled to start this month.
On the drawing board we’re still working with our client in Sandhurst to develop a scheme that delivers all the functionality that the client wants while fitting with their target budget. The client works overseas quite frequently so our use of modern computer generated visuals has been a real benefit during this process. We’re able to work up a new proposal and email that directly to the client wherever they are rather than having to wait for them to be back in the UK so we can visit them in person and present sketches on paper.
We’ve also recently been commissioned to design a small family garden for a house on a recent development near Hook in Hampshire, and are in the process of tendering for the construction of a new elevated terrace for a house in Sandhurst. More news on these and other projects as they develop.
Posted by puregardendesign
