Services

The Brief

Arrange for Caroline to come and meet you and see your garden in its current state. She will listen to your wishes, help you develop your ideas, discuss your budget and way of life and get a feel for what will suit you. For instance, whether you require a whole garden design or only part of your existing garden redesigned, a low maintenance garden or heavily planted herbaceous borders, a minimalist “dry” garden or “Provencale” effect or a romantic cottage garden with raised vegetable beds, a sustainable garden, a “safe” garden for children, a roof terrace, a small courtyard garden or just an area that needs replanting. These are some of the ideas that you might like to discuss.

By the end of this meeting you will feel very confident that you are talking to someone who understands the sort of people you are, the level of help that you need and the style of garden that you want.

The Estimate

After that first chat Caroline will send you an estimate. You will certainly want to discuss it and tweak it but very quickly you will feel happy about going forward because she will get the price right for you and what you want.

The Survey

A site survey will be then be carried out under Caroline’s instruction. A small sized London garden can be done “in-house” – a larger garden will require a landscape surveyor.

(All aspects of the height and fall of the land, tree preservation orders, boundaries, irrigation, drainage and water harvesting will be taken into account at this stage.)

The Ideas

Once the survey is completed Caroline can start to put her ideas on paper for you. She believes you will find these sympathetic to your ideas, creative and original and will never fall short of your initial brief. At this stage, the design is there for further discussion and can be altered to achieve exactly the garden that you want.

The Completed (agreed) Design

You now have a finished garden design, tailored to your specification and ready for implementation – the garden you always wanted but better than you ever imagined!

• “The garden I always wanted but better than I ever imagined”
  Annie Stevens, Annie Stevens Interior Design

The Planting Plan and Schedule

Caroline will produce a perfect, individual and beautiful planting plan for your garden with a detailed “plant schedule” for the nursery supplier. Caroline is a real gardener, she loves her flowers and will not only design a garden specifically for you but will also produce a beautiful planting scheme chosen from a wide palette of plants which will interpret your vision completely . She will order your plants from the nursery and oversee their planting or alternatively she will instruct the landscape contractor.

(At this stage Caroline will produce axonometric and perspective drawings if asked).

• “God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which, buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks”
  Francis Bacon, philosopher (1561 – 1626)

The Garden Build – Landscape Contracting

Peter Garland, Caroline’s husband, can carry out the garden build on your behalf or alternatively you can put out to tender. For 30 years Peter had offices in Belgravia from where he ran his landscape contracting operations “Townscapes”. He has won a Gold Award at the Chelsea Flower Show and has been commissioned to work on many prestigious projects, for example at: Petersham Lodge – Richmond, The Holme – Regents Park, Kensington Palace Gardens, the Boltons etc. In the gallery you will see some of his builds in Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Belgravia, Kensington, Richmond and Chiswick.

(At this stage Caroline will produce setting-out drawings, construction drawings and specification/scope of works documents for the landscape contractor if asked.)

Whatever you choose, Caroline will stay closely in touch with you until the project is complete.

Lighting and Water Features

Do not underestimate the value of these! Caroline will incorporate lighting and water features into your design if you wish, and will source the perfect materials for you.

Sourcing

Caroline believes in using well made, reputably sourced garden furniture, pergolas, greenhouses, summerhouses… follies, statues etc. She would be delighted to help you locate these things or will have them tailor made to your specification.

Maintenance

If you would like to stay in contact with your designer after the project is complete, Caroline offers a fully comprehensive maintenance programme.