Small Low Maintenance Garden – Ampthill

This new small garden consisted of mainly lawn with a small amount of sandstone paving as a terrace adjacent to the house.

The brief was to have no lawn for easy maintenance and to screen an old shed on the other side of the rear boundary, but to create interest in the garden.

My approach to the design was to add different textures to the hard landscaping using gravel and setts, extending the existing terrace as appropriate.

Even in this small garden, I was able to create a route around the garden.

A small self-circulating water feature was set within a circle of gravel, in direct view from the kitchen window, and stepping stones through the gravel led to the main terrace area.

The terrace was extended out into the garden in line with the sitting room doors where a bird bath is to be positioned.

A simple pergola with insets of trellis screened the old shed. The planting softened the hard landscaping, creating interest and colour all year, with climbers on the pergola to help with the screening. A mulch was added to reduce weeds and retain moisture to limit the maintenance required.