Sloping Garden Design in Basingstoke, Hampshire
A small garden design with a water feature for a sloping garden in Basingstoke, Hampshire
The Brief
The brief for this small garden design in Basingstoke, Hampshire was to remove the slope and create a flat lawn. The clients love gardening, so it was important to include as much planting as possible whilst still leaving space for a larger seating area. The clients wanted a natural rock water feature and a large garden shed and for the garden to be a more inviting space that enabled them to spend time outdoors. The clients also wanted the garden design to include some curves.
The garden design explained
The garden design features a curved, pebble clad retaining wall that allows the garden to be levelled and also creates a raised bed and functions as an informal seat. There is a small lawn, a patio with Porcelain paving that accommodates a table large enough to seat six people comfortably. A large shed occupies the side return of the house allowing for much needed storage, as well as a place for an extra ‘fridge and tumble drier. A naturalistic water feature makes use of the level change and sits in the raised border.
The garden design challenges
The main challenge of any small garden design is fitting everything in on the clients’ wish list without making the garden look cluttered. Creating privacy was also an issue as the property is overlooked and adjacent to a busy road. The garden design also had to give the illusion of more space - raising the borders to introduce a deliberate level change always helps to make the garden look larger by stopping the eye before it reaches the garden boundaries.
The planting design
The planting design was quite tricky. In a small space it's always a delicate balancing act to get enough space for clients to use the space to relax and entertain whilst also leaving room for plants to soften the garden and create interest. In this case, the clients wanted more planting, and to have more colour, so the borders were expanded as much as possible and a raised border helped to create additional useable space as well as a larger planting area. The design introduced more long-lived herbaceous perennials like Salvia and Penstemmons, and also made use of the boundary fences for climbing plants to add to the colour and scent in the garden.
Before
After
Creating privacy
The garden design had to create privacy without using thick hedges which would have taken up too much space. The existing fences were dressed with timber batten screens which were then painted dark grey to provide a perfect foil for the planting as well as a chic framework for the whole garden and support for climging plants.
A garden for Acers
The client had a large number of mature Acers in pots around the garden. A main part of the brief was to include these Acers and re-locate them into the new borders. The Acers give the garden great structure and offer year-round interest with their beautiful foliage, autumn colour and delicate winter skeletons.
The water feature
The garden design includes a water feature which was one of the most important parts of the clients’ brief. Rocks were individually chosen and stacked to create three different waterfalls that empty into a lower reservoir contained by the retaining wall and covered with a heavy duty steel mesh and topped with slate paddlestones. The water feature is planted with alpine plants to further blend it into the garden and help make it look as though it has always been there.
Lighting design
The lighting design is a combination of uplights of different wattages and beam angles that highlight the garden elements to give depth to the garden and bring it to life at night. The lighting scheme also includes additional downlights that can be switched on when the clients are sitting out at night and need additional light for eating and entertaining. The water feature is also lit by micro-spotlights that highlight its structure and make the waterfalls glow at night.