Questions and Answers

I ask for a payment of £75 for the initial site visit. If you decide to go ahead with the design process, this fee is deducted from the cost of the design.

Yes, absolutely! You may just want to refresh your patio, or to reimagine an area where the trampoline used to be, and that’s totally fine. If you’d love a full redesign but budget is an issue, I can design the entire garden but with a view to building it in stages, perhaps over a few years. This way you know that the design is cohesive and that each new element will blend seamlessly with the rest of the garden.

Depending on the size and complexity of the site the topographical survey might be undertaken by an independent professional surveyor. Some sites also need additional tree or ecological surveys. These surveys would be arranged and paid for directly with the surveyor.

I offer a design-only service, which can include a ‘tender’ package containing all the drawings, layout plans and specification documents that a landscaper would need to build your garden. If you don’t already have a preferred contractor then we will put out to tender to respected local landscapers who are accredited by a professional body such as the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL).

Until we have agreed the design it is difficult to give any meaningful figure, but as a very rough guide, the cost of building a garden could be somewhere between £200 and £450 +VAT per square metre. The lower value would suggest a garden mainly laid to lawn with some planting, whereas the upper value might apply to a garden containing, say, multiple design features, high-spec hard landscaping, and large trees.

TV shows are great for inspiration but not so good for giving an accurate impression of how much it really costs to build a garden: the true costs are mitigated by the entertainment industry. It’s easy to forget the less obvious costs of, for example, clearing the site, skip hire, machinery hire, and labour, in addition to the visible items such as paving and plants.

The good news is that landscaping costs can be offset by the value a well-designed garden adds to your property – not to mention the personal rewards that a beautiful outdoor space can bring, extending your living area and evolving with the seasons year after year.

I love naturalistic planting, and I love solving problems! I’m a cryptic crossword fan, and get the same amount of pleasure from solving a tricky issue in a garden as I do from getting the lightbulb moment with a fiendish clue!

Music is my other passion. I worked in the classical recording industry for many years, but now my musical needs are met by singing in a wonderful ladies’ barbershop choir, as well as playing the piano. I live by the sea, where long walks and kayaking under wide horizons give me the perfect opportunity to reconnect with nature.