Small Family Garden with Cobble Decor - Driveways & Paving

Category: Driveways, Patio, Paving & Walls

Garden Design Project: DWSMPG001

The design brief was a total transformation from a boring rectangular plot adjacent to the driveways to a garden with different rooms to work for a young family.

The design maximised spending more time outside socialising and having barbecues with friends and their families, in particular the brief was for a low maintenance child friendly garden.

This preview using Vectorworks Landmark design software gives the clients confidence and reassurance.

Additionally, we wanted to blend the garden patio slabs in with the existing block paving driveways.

Looking from the boundary fence up towards the house there is nothing of any interest to keep you in the garden.

Once completed, this project brought both space and warmth to this small family garden as well as brings the driveways into the garden which makes the whole garden appear much bigger.

Part of the design brief was to keep this area as a raised patio.

Below, the circular lawn gives a sense of more space because the human eye will look to the centre of the circle and then look outwards thus giving the impression of more space.

The lawns are bordered with a Cobble mowing strip which gives them crisp clean lines and eliminates the need of edging the lawn every time it is cut.

These cobbles run throughout the design to create continuity. The timber screen breaks the sight line to prevent the eye from looking straight to the bottom of the garden.

Four of the paving units have been left out and finished with Cobble decor. A recessed manhole lid has been used so that Paving units can be laid within, to disguise an otherwise unsightly cast iron lid.

Looking back up the garden towards the house, the planting on this side of the timber screen will grow to soften the hard lines and will emphasise the feeling of being in a different part (room) of the garden.

The three trees, which have been planted in root restricting bags to keep their growth in check, will also highlight going from one part of the garden to the next.

Ultimately, this will create extra privacy from upstairs windows.

The curved path coming from the gate to the rear garage door and triangular pergola area again is Cobble bordered with Paving units left out and in filled with cobbles, keeping the theme running throughout the garden.

The arc in the path has allowed shade tolerant plants to be used adjacent to the garage to take the eye away from the harshness of a solid brick wall.

A common mistake is to put the children's play area out of the way of the main seating area where undoubtedly when the children are playing they will want the adults to come to watch and take part.

A family garden is just that; 'a family garden' keep the children close to the main seating area where the adults can sit comfortably and interact with the children.

The additional purpose of the timber screen is that a ball can be kicked within this area without causing damage to the planting behind the screen.

The boundary fence is the next door neighbour's property, so trellis panels were used to enable climbing plants to be grown against them to take away the harshness.

A similar timber screen was erected between the Driveways and garden.

At the bottom of the garden there is a triangular arbour and patio area with the same Cobble border and in fill theme, this is a sunny site and creates a more intimate seating area.

A small pebble pool water feature has been installed to provide the relaxing sight and sound of water. Scented climbing plants have been used to give an added dimension to this intimate area of the garden.

Submitted By: Michael Palmer
Website: www.mpgardendesigns.co.uk