About This Project

A family garden needs to be fulfill a whole lot of functions. This large family back garden in Tiptree wasn’t really performing as it should. Clients were keen to introduce a decked area with a hot tub. Garden designer Karen Chamberlain supplied advice and inspiration. Holland Landscapes, no strangers to decking Essex gardens, carried out the build. Here are the results…..

What the clients wanted

• Play space for three lively boys
• Relaxation space for adults
• Entertainment space
• A hot tub
• Easy maintenance
• All weather access to storage sheds

The design

Karen designed the garden with two beautiful lawns on different levels. This was a good way to deal with the slightly sloping garden and also accommodate an ornamental lawn and a play lawn. The play lawn, being on a lower level is less visible from the house so a bit of mud won’t matter.

Beautiful limestone pavers guide the journey around the garden and lead to a large decked area. The deck fits neatly with the contours of the house and is enclosed by a low rendered wall. This is the “adult” area. Its home to the barbeque, some stylish seating and a family sized hot tub.

The planting design is nice and simple with natural lawns and architecturally shaped clipped box and yew hedges.

The project

As with any landscaping project, work began by clearing and levelling the site. This project was completed in stages so as to minimise disruption to family life.

The decking

Decking Essex gardens is a specialty of ours. However, building a deck is more complex than it appears on the TV Gardening shows. The base is more important than the visible parts of the deck. For this is where the strength comes from. We reinforced the sub-base beneath the hot tub – these things are heavy and need lots of support.

This timber is beautiful! Love the colour and it was a joy to work with. Those recessed lights provide a nice finishing touch and mean that the garden can be enjoyed at any time of the day or night.

The paving

Without wanting to show off….please take a good look at the paving pictures. Holland Landscapes are very fussy about precision. Just one or two millimetres variation in the mortar gaps can ruin the appearance of a paved area. As can poorly applied grout or even worse – ugly manhole covers. For this project we used a recessed manhole cover. We cut the pavers very carefully so that the manhole cover blends beautifully into the path whilst still being easy to access.

The Challenges

As usual, the UK weather posed challenges. We needed to take measures to protect the newly built wall from the cold. Once mortar and render has dried it’s incredibly hardy, but whilst wet it can easily be damaged by a sharp frost. Our team are used to adapting their working practices to the conditions. It’s all part of being a landscaper…..no two days are the same.

It’s almost impossible to keep energetic boys (aged 8, 5 and 3) indoors for the whole of the build. However, a landscaping site is no place for playing. Our team are rigorous in their approach to Health and Safety but on this occasion we did take extra care to make sure the clients were aware of the risks.

The results

Very happy clients and a well-manicured but low maintenance garden. What’s not to love?

Learn more about decking Essex

More about landscaping costs