A family had just moved into their forever home in Fareham, and the garden came with them: three changes of level, none of them doing anything useful. We rebuilt it as three proper spaces. A Himalayan White porcelain terrace at the house, two matching lawns between symmetrical sleeper beds, and a raised porcelain patio at the top, every tier framed in dark brick.
The levels were already there. A riven-effect slab patio ran along the back of the house, with a raised platform of pink quarry tiles sitting on top of it outside the French doors. An old timber sleeper held back a lawn that had dried out to straw, crossed by a line of stepping stones. Behind that, a second slab patio sat up against the back fence, and a gravel corner was home to a few pots.
Three levels, then, but no garden. Nothing tied them together, and none of the materials agreed with each other. The new owners wanted a garden they could actually live in: room to entertain, somewhere quiet to sit, and space to plant it up themselves.
Rather than fight the slope, we kept the three levels and gave each one a job. Everything old came out: the slabs, the quarry tile platform, the rotten sleeper edge and the lawn. The garden was then rebuilt as three tiers that read as one design.
The lower and upper patios are both laid in Himalayan White porcelain, large-format and pale, so the two ends of the garden match. Each tier is framed in a solid dark brick, which gives every edge a crisp line and doubles as the step between levels. The brick carries on up the porcelain path through the middle of the garden, so you walk from the back door to the top patio along one straight, finished line.
On the middle tier, two matching artificial lawns sit either side of that path, with symmetrical raised sleeper beds wrapping the corners. The beds are filled and ready for the owners to plant with whatever they choose. At the top, a Venetian-style slatted screen closes off the right-hand side for privacy, with a planting bed along its foot, and a sleeper shed base fills the top-left corner.
The customers are over the moon, and they've already asked us back to build their driveway.
Planning something similar? See our garden design and landscaping in Fareham.
Drag the handle to compare. Both photos are taken from the same spot.
One level of Himalayan White porcelain across the back of the house, replacing the old slabs and the pink tiled platform. A linear drain runs along the wall to carry water away from the doors, and the access covers are recessed and filled with porcelain so they disappear into the paving.
Two matching artificial lawns, split down the middle by a brick-edged porcelain path. Symmetrical raised sleeper beds frame both sides, filled and ready for the owners to plant. Green all year, and nothing to mow.
A second porcelain patio at the back of the garden, framed in the same dark brick. A Venetian-style slatted screen gives privacy on the right-hand side, and a sleeper shed base fills the top-left corner.
A short conversation, a site visit, and a written brief before any work is committed. We work across Hampshire: Warsash, Fareham, Southampton, Portsmouth and the towns in between.
