Garden & landscape design studio
We survey the soil, the shade and the water before we draw a single line. Then we design the garden that site can actually keep alive — and stay with it through the build and the first two growing seasons.
How we work with a site
Most gardens fail on drainage, shade or soil rather than on taste. Each lane below ends in something you own and can give to any contractor.
A measured read of the plot before design begins, so the scheme is built on conditions rather than assumptions.
The full drawing set a builder can price and work from, with every material named and every plant counted.
We stay involved while the garden is made, then through establishment — the stage where most planting is won or lost.
Process
Design work takes weeks; planting takes seasons. Knowing the order helps you decide when to start.
We spend a long first visit on the plot: what you want from it, what already grows well, where water sits after rain, which views you want kept or hidden. You get a short written summary and a realistic scope before any fee beyond the visit.
Measurement, soil sampling and shade mapping come first, then a concept plan with a planting character for each zone. We present it on site where possible, so decisions are made looking at the real thing.
Setting-out dimensions, construction details, materials schedule and planting plans are drawn up and sent to contractors for pricing. If the figures land above your budget, we revise the scope here rather than thinning the planting later.
Hard work is built first, then planting goes in during the correct window for the species chosen. We return through the first two growing seasons to check establishment, adjust irrigation and set the pruning routine.
Gardens
Described by site and scope rather than adjectives — the useful comparison is whether your plot resembles one of them.
A heavy clay garden falling away from the house with almost no direct winter sun. We cut three shallow terraces, used the spoil to level a sitting area, and planted a woodland edge of birch, hellebore, epimedium and ferns that tolerates both wet winters and dry summer shade.
An open site with wind from two sides and only a shallow layer of topsoil. Rather than importing soil for borders, we leaned into the poverty: a sown perennial meadow with mown routes through it, a clipped hedge windbreak, and one sheltered gravel terrace.
A narrow walled courtyard with four hours of summer sun and dry soil at the wall base. Reclaimed brick paving, a single raised water tank and climbers on wires do the structural work; the planting is shade-tolerant and repeated in a short list so it reads calm at close range.
Survey
If a studio has not checked these, the plan is decoration. Use the list to question anyone you are comparing us with.
Texture and pH sampled at three depths in several places. Clay, chalk and sand each rule out whole plant families, and a single sample from one corner is not enough to design from.
Hours of direct sun per zone at midsummer and midwinter, including shade thrown by neighbouring buildings and trees. This decides where seating goes as much as what gets planted.
A percolation test in the lowest part of the garden, plus a note of where water stands after heavy rain. Everything about levels, lawns and terraces follows from the result.
Species, condition and root protection area for anything staying. We set out paving and foundations around those zones instead of discovering the conflict mid-build.
The widest clear route into the garden, surface by surface. It determines machine size, whether materials arrive by barrow, and a large part of the build cost.
Existing outdoor taps, downpipes worth harvesting and any usable power supply. Irrigation and lighting are cheap to design in now and disruptive to add afterwards.
Design can begin in any month, but bare-root trees, hedging and most perennials go in while the ground is cool and damp. Starting the survey in autumn usually means planting the same winter; starting in late spring usually means waiting for the next one. Tell us your hoped-for finish and we will work backwards honestly.
Questions
Answers to the six questions that come up at almost every first visit.
Enquire
A few details are enough to say whether we are the right studio and when a survey could happen. No obligation follows from sending this.