The Brief

The client had two small children and a very long wish list for this tiny space, which was neither functional nor beautiful. She needed storage for two wheely bins and a bike, an enclosed space for a dog run, play equipment for her children, a lawn, planting, BBQ and two seating areas in a garden that measured little more than 10mx10m. It was a listed property and we needed to be economical with the costs.

The Solution

The paving that covered most of the space was of reasonable quality and well laid, so we left this in-situ and just cut it into the shapes we needed, removing the rest.  An egg timer shaped lawn allowed spaces at the edge to be developed into the various areas required. We used astro turf as there was no room to store a lawn mower and it allowed us to retain the existing subbase under the paving. We took our lead on materials from the existing materials on site, the boundary was different on each side of the garden. A mature Portuguese laurel in front of a beautiful flint wall was retained and up lit. The back fence was replaced with woven willow and brick detail was added to create the circular seating area and the edging to the main patio. A ‘delorean’ style bin store was designed to enable the wheely bins to be stored while maximising the width of the side passage and incorporated a narrow cupboard in between the two bins for more storage for kids’ toys.

• At Anthea Harrison Garden Design, we offer garden design in Hornchurch, Chelmsford and throughout Essex, Hertfordshire and North London. Click here and fill in the online form or call us today on 01279 647305 to learn more.