When choosing a new home, people have a varied list of features that they are looking for. There will usually be a more vague collection of things that are unwanted. Among the desirable features is often a large family kitchen, a south-facing garden, or perhaps a view across to distant hills.
Among items on the less desirable list, a sloping garden is often seen as a disadvantage, and indeed it does present many challenges. In this garden, our clients were very happy with the house layout and had decided this was the ideal place to bring up a young family. The garden, however, did pose a few problems. Arranged on two levels, the lower area is accessed directly from the kitchen/dining room and had been paved throughout with a mixture of municipal concrete slabs, which were uneven and poorly laid.
Also featured in this area, to the rear of the garden, was a substantial block-built shed. As the shed was no longer required, we designed a split-level garden, with a small lawn outside the dining room doors. The remaining garden was laid with decking, one step up from the lawn.
We removed the shed roof, but kept most of the walls, which were retaining the garden, and converted the shed into a small paved seating area to contrast with the decking. An L-shaped bench was fitted into this walled space and the side walls of the old shed were reduced in height to form arm rests on one side. The next challenge was to get access to the much larger area of the garden, which is approximately three metres above the lower garden.
The original steps ran right up the side of the garden in one long continuous flight, but we wanted to avoid long flights of stairs. Instead, rising from the deck is a combination of oak sleeper and gravel steps which wind around the back of the original shed walls and finish at a small raised area covered with bark.
This area has a curved, raised seat to its rear, which retains a planting area and thus acts as a small landing, which breaks up the route. Continuing across this space is an S-shaped run of stone steps leading to a decked balcony, giving access to the main rear garden. The balcony is curved and made with toughened glass balustrades, which allow for an uninterrupted view down to the lower garden, and for this upper level to be seen from the bedroom windows.
By weaving the steps across the hillside and breaking the route with landings, it has been possible to create an attractive and accessible way to reach the back of the garden.
There was a lot of structural work required to shore-up the hillside on this job, but after all the hard work, what had been a difficult space to negotiate has been transformed into a garden which works well for a growing family and also presents a much more interesting space than a flat garden.
http://allgardendesigns.co.uk/
Among items on the less desirable list, a sloping garden is often seen as a disadvantage, and indeed it does present many challenges. In this garden, our clients were very happy with the house layout and had decided this was the ideal place to bring up a young family. The garden, however, did pose a few problems. Arranged on two levels, the lower area is accessed directly from the kitchen/dining room and had been paved throughout with a mixture of municipal concrete slabs, which were uneven and poorly laid.
Also featured in this area, to the rear of the garden, was a substantial block-built shed. As the shed was no longer required, we designed a split-level garden, with a small lawn outside the dining room doors. The remaining garden was laid with decking, one step up from the lawn.
We removed the shed roof, but kept most of the walls, which were retaining the garden, and converted the shed into a small paved seating area to contrast with the decking. An L-shaped bench was fitted into this walled space and the side walls of the old shed were reduced in height to form arm rests on one side. The next challenge was to get access to the much larger area of the garden, which is approximately three metres above the lower garden.
The original steps ran right up the side of the garden in one long continuous flight, but we wanted to avoid long flights of stairs. Instead, rising from the deck is a combination of oak sleeper and gravel steps which wind around the back of the original shed walls and finish at a small raised area covered with bark.
This area has a curved, raised seat to its rear, which retains a planting area and thus acts as a small landing, which breaks up the route. Continuing across this space is an S-shaped run of stone steps leading to a decked balcony, giving access to the main rear garden. The balcony is curved and made with toughened glass balustrades, which allow for an uninterrupted view down to the lower garden, and for this upper level to be seen from the bedroom windows.
By weaving the steps across the hillside and breaking the route with landings, it has been possible to create an attractive and accessible way to reach the back of the garden.
There was a lot of structural work required to shore-up the hillside on this job, but after all the hard work, what had been a difficult space to negotiate has been transformed into a garden which works well for a growing family and also presents a much more interesting space than a flat garden.
http://allgardendesigns.co.uk/