A new home after downsizing during retirement

Birds wildlife in the garden

Client profile

Karen and Roland are retired and have recently downsized to their new home in Skipton.  The bungalow had a mature garden, and after some initial changes they made themselves, was now a blank canvas.  Not necessarily after a ‘wow factor’ garden, they were wanting to reuse and recycle where possible existing materials in a new layout. As keen gardeners, they were excited about transforming their outdoor space. They had ideas about the layout and how they wanted to use the garden but had stalled.  Their initial excitement was tempered not knowing how or where to start.

Their garden problems

“Since moving in, we hired a landscaper to clear 30 leylandii and evergreen shrubs before lockdown.  It’s now a blank canvas and we don’t know what to do next. We can’t agree about what to do with a ‘motorway’ we’ve inherited (large cobbled area taking up almost a fifth of the garden!).  We’ve been discussing this for 2 months and is stopping us making progress. We’ve sorted out the front garden and are happy with what we’ve achieved there, but we do need help with the back garden”

  • Before work

  • Stalling on progress, now a blank canvas

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The solution

After researching gardeners and landscapers online the couple decided that a garden designer would have the knowledge and expertise needed when designing a garden from scratch, which is when they contacted me.

“At the start I was looking online for gardeners and landscapers.  However I soon discovered there was a distinction between the landscape gardener and the landscape designer.  And after trawling through various websites, I came across yours.  Your portfolio and services demonstrated that you have a better understanding of what is required when starting a new garden, how plants should be treated and how the layout of a garden is best arranged.”