On you first contacting me we will arrange a Site Meeting up to 3h, to walk around your garden and talk about your requirements. We can also sit down and look at photos that you have chosen for inspiration or other ideas that you would like to include in the garden. At this first visit I will also take rough measurements of your garden to get an idea of the size in square metre.

Back at my desk I will write up a Design Program with your requirements and what is to be included in the design for your garden. The proposal will also include a quote for the design, showing at which stages of the project fees are due, additional charges as well as an invoice for the Initial Site Meeting. You will receive this together with my Terms of Engagement to be signed by you and myself before any design work begins.

Once I’ve received your confirmation & signed papers I will start the design process. I will begin with spending 2-3h on site, taking note of existing structures and plants and survey the garden. This will feed into the written up Site Survey showing all existing structures, trees, etc. to scale which serves as a starting point for the design. Through a series of processes considering the site in combination with everything shown in the Design Program I will present you with a Functional Diagram which allocates each part of the garden a function, together with the Preliminary Design, a first draft of the final Concept Plan. I will also produce rendered 3D Perspectives of your garden for you, showing scenes of your garden as they are suggested in the Preliminary Design. This is often very useful if there are multiple options, for example different routes through the front garden, as it will illustrate very effectively what each option would look like.

At this stage we will sit down together and have an in-depth discussion about the proposed design. I often find it helpful to walk around the garden as well, pointing out how the plan would translate into the real space. Marking out areas shown on the plan, i.e. borders or patio with bamboo canes whilst out in the garden can give you a real sense of the design in your garden space.

Through discussions like these we will make changes to the Preliminary Design until we arrive at a design you are happy with. You will receive a Concept Plan for your garden, which includes the Position of Borders, Trees, Hard surfaces, Walls and Structures to Scale but won’t go into detail or specify what type of plants, trees or materials to use.

Once the Concept Plan has been agreed on and finalised I will start on working out the details. I like to start the process by creating Moodboards on Pinterest where I will select and assemble pictures of Materials, Structures and Planting/Plants that put together will result in the style of your garden, i.e. country garden, modern, naturalistic etc. There Moodboards will be accessible to you and you can also add your ideas if you like.

We will use these Moodboards as a starting point from which we work out what elements to go for. After narrowing down and deciding on a style or particular materials I will draw up Plans that show specification of Materials and Structures and do more in-depth research into suitable planting for your garden, resulting in the Planting Plans. The latter will also include a plant list and maintenance schedule (if required).

I will also create a Dimension Plan for you, adding dimensions to a simplified version of the Masterplan showing clearly the length, width, centre points etc. needed to set out the plans.

Design Cost depending on size, ca. £1300 for small town garden, ca. £3700 for medium-sized garden.

Initial Site Consultation, charged at £75, offset against design fee