About This Project

Our Holland Landscape team Ben and John, with assistance from boss Paul Baker were always courteous and friendly. We found them to be extremely hardworking producing meticulous and high-quality work.

THE CLIENT BRIEF

Our clients were struggling to use their garden fully because the steep slope made access difficult. They commissioned a garden design from our in-house designer at Tapestry Design Studios and asked Holland Landscapes to build the patio and garden stairs that would bring the design to life.

TYPE OF PROPERTY

A beautiful modern home with fantastic views across the Essex Countryside

LOCATION

Stebbing, Essex

DESIGNER

Tapestry Design Studios, Colchester.

BEFORE LANDSCAPING

This generously sized garden was well maintained but woefully underused. The small patio beside the back door tended to be quite exposed and windy. Added to this, it was not quite big enough for our clients’ needs.

A dramatic sloping drop from the house to the lawn below was home to two sets of crumbling garden stairs which had deteriorated to the point of being dangerous.

THE GARDEN DESIGN

The design for this garden was the brainchild of Katie Moyes from Tapestry Garden Design. It includes a large patio at the top of the slope where our clients can entertain friends and family, cook and eat al fresco and enjoy the wide ranging views.

Katie designed a flight of steps from the top of the slope to the bottom with a ‘kink’ halfway down to create a logical resting spot. The stairs are wide, sturdy and beautifully lit for safety.

To connect the garden stairs with the patio, Katie has designed a wide path in matching pavers. This too has some changes in level due to the topography of the site, and so Katie has incorporated steps as a slope or ramp would have been impractically steep.

At the bottom of the garden stairs is a practical yet stylish greenhouse so that our clients can indulge their passion for growing their own fruit and veg.

BUILDING THE GARDEN STAIRS

Don’t let anyone tell you that Holland Landscapes don’t enjoy a challenge. We’re fortunate to have some very talented landscapers on our team and they relished the opportunity to get stuck into a challenging project.

The garden stairs needed careful engineering to ensure that they are strong, durable and don’t de-stabilise the bank. 

Possibly the most ‘interesting’ part of the build was creating the concrete structure beneath those bricks and risers. Have you ever tried barrowing wet cement down a steep slope? We had to figure out how to be safe AND efficient but once we got into our stride it wasn’t so bad.

At the top of the slope is that lovely large patio. Here the main challenges lay in long term water management. We needed to make sure that rainwater was channelled safely away without eroding the bank. It rained almost continuously during this project so there were plenty of opportunities to test our work.

The glass balustrade from F H Brundle is among our favourite design details of all time. It’s practical in that it shelters the patio from the wind. At the same time it’s so discreet that it doesn’t impede that wonderful view in any way. 

Finally, we have to mention the wild flower matting that cloaks the bank. This will help make garden maintenance easier because it only needs cutting once a year. Katie chose Meadowmat for Birds and Bees from Harrowden Turf because of it’s long flowering period followed by beautiful seed heads in autumn and winter.

Materials Used In This Garden

As always, we need to give full credit to the suppliers who helped make this project the success that it is.

Harrowden Turf  (Birds and Bees Wildflower Matting)

Rhino Greenhouses (glass house)

Kebur Garden Materials (black granite pavers)

Arbour Landscape Solutions (Paving Grouts)

Collier and Catchpole (bricks)

Neil Sullivan & Sons (concrete)

F H Brundle (glass balustrade)

Landscape Plus (drainage channels and light fittings)

What The Clients Said

We found Holland Landscapes when researching wildflower meadow-mat turf for our steeply sloping garden. We contacted them as we wanted a landscaper that had experience of working in a sloping garden and with meadow-mat turf.

The project started with the design process, and we arranged a site visit with Katie of Tapestry Design Studios who works alongside Holland Landscapes.

Katie visited us to see the garden and listened to our thoughts and ideas, taking lots of pictures.  We were impressed with her professionalism and personable nature and knew we could work with her.

We liked Katie’s design and after a few minor revisions we engaged Holland Landscapes to carry out the work.

The project took a little over three months.  Our Holland Landscape team Ben and John, with assistance from boss Paul Baker were always courteous and friendly. We found them to be extremely hardworking producing meticulous and high-quality work.

Now we have the garden we have wanted for many years.

We have been very impressed with Holland Landscapes and Katie of Tapestry Design Studios. They are knowledgeable professionals who are easy to work with and we would highly recommend them and use them again for any future garden work.

Paul and Liz Hooper, Stebbing

 

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