Our Garden Design Process
Every garden is unique, but our process ensures your outdoor space is designed and delivered with creativity, care, and precision. From our first conversation to the finishing touches, we guide you through each step with clarity and attention to detail. While our process is comprehensive, not every stage will apply to every project. We’ll guide you through the stages outlined below that are relevant to your garden, ensuring the journey fits your needs perfectly.
1. Initial Site Visit
We begin with an Initial Site Visit to explore your garden and discuss your ideas, lifestyle, and priorities. This first meeting is about understanding your vision — how you’d like to use your garden, the style you prefer, any practical needs, and your budget. It sets the foundation for the design brief and the journey ahead.
2. Garden Design Brief
We work together to create a design brief that captures your vision, requirements, and aesthetic preferences, laying the groundwork for our design process. This document, which will be sent to you via email, outlines the design phases and provides a comprehensive breakdown of the associated fees, ensuring that your needs are fully understood. It sets a strong foundation for our collaboration as we move forward.
3. Site Survey & Analysis
An accurate survey is essential to create a garden that fits perfectly into its setting. Depending on the scale of your garden, we either carry out a detailed site survey ourselves or arrange for a professional topographical survey. The survey provides the technical foundation for all future design work and ensures that both concept ideas and construction plans are accurate, practical, and cost-effective.
4. From Concept Design to Masterplan
Our design concepts, along with accompanying images, mood boards, plans, and sketches, are thoroughly presented and discussed with you to provide a comprehensive understanding of your future garden's appearance. This document serves as a foundation for the final Masterplan, which acts as your garden's blueprint, detailing the precise locations of hardscaping, planting, and various features.
5. Visuals
We can produce 3D illustrations and walk-throughs of your design, allowing you to explore the garden virtually before it’s built. This not only helps you clearly visualise the finished space but can also be useful when engaging planning authorities or finalising key decisions with confidence.
6. Detailed Design & Specifications
Where required, we prepare construction drawings, lighting and irrigation plans, and detailed planting plans. These ensure every element is clearly defined before work begins. This stage gives contractors everything they need to price and construct the garden accurately, minimises the risk of on-site changes, and ensures the finished garden reflects the agreed design in every detail.
7. Garden Build Site Inspections
Our site inspection service takes the stress out of the build process. We make sure your garden is delivered to the highest standard, in line with the agreed design, and are on hand to respond to any changes along the way. You can choose from a few key visits or more regular, detailed weekly meetings — whatever gives you the most peace of mind.
8. Planting & Styling
Comprehensive planting plans and schedules are created for your garden, specifying everything from the types of plants to the exact pot sizes required. Mood boards are designed to convey the overall aesthetic of the project. We carefully select plants from specialized nurseries and oversee their installation to bring our design vision to life. Additionally, we can provide pots, furniture, and decorative elements to enhance the overall aesthetic.
9. Aftercare
Gardens grow and evolve over time. We provide aftercare advice and, if desired, follow-up visits to help your garden establish and thrive for years to come. We can also prepare a tailored maintenance schedule, giving you or your gardener clear guidance on how to care for the planting through the seasons.