Linda's Garden Design and Build – Stevenage, Hertfordshire

In January 2018, we were approached by a client named Linda Smith, based in Fishers Green in Stevenage, asking us if we’d be able to design and build her a new back garden. Of course, we said yes!

Linda was full of creative ideas and had a clear vision of what she wanted. She’d already drawn up a rough plan of how she wanted the garden to look – she wanted a new wooden pergola constructed, as well as planters made from oak sleepers, a water feature and natural stone paving. This meant we would also have to install drainage in the garden, as we were covering it in a hard surface.

Our designer took Linda’s draft diagram and worked it up into a computerised 3D drawing, making practical adjustments where necessary and allowing everyone involved in the project to visualise precisely how the garden would look before construction began. Once all parties were satisfied, it was time to get to work.

First job – sourcing materials. We like to do this locally, and so we scoured the Stevenage area for everything we needed. This ended up being a full day’s job – we have extremely high standards when it comes to the materials we use, and some of the companies we visited weren’t able to offer us the quality we required, meaning we had no choice but to look elsewhere. Happily, we got it sorted.

From there, we started construction. This began in June 2018 and was finished within the same month – even with an unexpected delay in the form of the infamous 2018 heatwave, which was so hot it prevented us from laying patio slabs, as the temperature would have caused the cement to be drawn through the porous stone too quickly. Fortunately we were able to use this time productively to work on the wooden pagoda, which we managed to construct using invisible fixings for a seamless, high-quality look.

When we were done, Linda was over the moon. We had transformed her back garden into a space both functional and beautiful, giving her the perfect spot to enjoy the rest of that long, hot summer.