Cost of creating a 1/4 acre "mature" garden?

[duriandurian]

A bit outing but here goes. House hunting and on and on. We found a beautiful house at the VERY top of our budget (talking Home Counties type cost).
But the, very decent size for a town centre, garden is bare brick (on sand and v compressed earth).
We looked today at a smaller, cheaper, house. House was nothing like as nice but the trees and borders were just amazing.
Our kids are just the age to enjoy a great garden- don't want to wait the 20 years or so for everything to grow.
Expensive house has languished on the market for a very long time and I was wondering about making an offer which accounted for the cost of professionals instantly creating a mature type garden.
What kind of ball park are we talking?
Thanks for any advice you can give.

[Angryosaurus]

I’d say 30 k and upwards

[Angryosaurus]

Although not sure anyone would give you a discount because gmail instantly want a mature garden!

[duriandurian]

Thanks. That is in the league of what we were thinking. I guess I am not asking for a discount so much as giving an offer (with justification if needed).
They have had no offers since their sale fell through end of last year, but bought another house already. So I think they may be quite motivated to reduce from their market leading price. But if not so be it. I just thought if it was more like £100k then easier to walk away without making an offer.

[duriandurian]

Just realised that there is no through access to the garden so would have to lift in trees etc. which would presumably up cost again. Gah

[Angryosaurus]

For that kind of budget I wouldn’t worry about that too much :)

[duriandurian]

I just never realised why mature garden was a selling point. But looking out onto leaves is so much nicer. And the thought of spending mega bucks and having a really ugly brick garden is a deal breaker. Seems to be a deal breaker for everyone tbf. Shame. It is a beautiful house but they sold off half the huge garden and coach house and then massacred what was left.

[Angryosaurus]

I’m sure the right buyer who likes a project will come along one day...

[duriandurian]

Yes, we sort of had a vision of saving it from the developers- who I think will be the only ones who will eventually step up. But I think we'll need to just step away rather than make an offer. Useful thread to help clarify thoughts anyway. Thank you.

[Angryosaurus]

It is a shame when beautiful houses are sold to developers I agree. Bit if you don’t have the time/money/energy it’s just not worth it.

[MessySurfaces]

I really like a courtyard garden! Loads of pits and climbers...
Reasonably quick to drop in too?

[bilbodog]

Why do you have to have an instant mature garden? If the house is beautiful buy it and start a garden - if you plant the right sort of trees and shrubs you can get the garden looking remarkably good in about five years.

[duriandurian]

Significantly more than that price... Been on for three years on and off. I think we can't really make sums add up to own it stress free. A lovely garden (size and country style) turns out to be a priority for us.
We have decided to offer on smaller house and hope to be in so we can enjoy the garden for some of the summer.

[WellTidy]

In case your position changes, I will offer my opinion! Our garden is about 100 feet x 40 feet. We moved into our house about 8 years ago, bought at the top of our budget at the time, and the garden was mature. Lovely. But we were not (at that time) gardeners, and basically we neglected it badly.

It meant that when we did become interested in our garden, and had time to give to it, about 18 months ago, everything was very overgrown and needed substantial cutting back. Most of what we had was very leggy and woody and it meant that we needed to start again with a lot of it.

Now we have a gardener come in for 3 hours a week, and has been doing this for about 18 months. Just over a year ago, we bought a load of shrubs from her, which she got from the wholesalers. Things like three syringa, fatsia japonica, euonymous, magnolia, acers, prunus, bay, laurel, lots of cistus, buddleia, hydrangeas, photinia, masses of lavender - loads of things. They didn't all flower enormously in their first year, but dear lord, they are now very established and are large and doing so well. I am now buying lots of climbers and have bought fruit trees and bushes. I have been surprised at just how quickly the garden has gone from being cleared, to looking really full. Things like mahonia, forsythia, hypericum, fatsia japonica etc will grow really quickly and time flies!

So, what I am trying to say is that you can quite easily create an established garden with a mix of structure, hard landscaping and planting. Even painting and cleaning up what you have. And you don't need a huge budget. If it were me, I would buy the bigger house, and invest in the garden when you can afford to. I am assuming that the garden is somewhere that still allows you somewhere to sit, for the children to play etc, so that it is useable.

[senua]

I can see that a garden is important to you, but it isn't to everyone. For it to have been on the market for three years there must be something(s) else seriously wrong.
Massively discount or walk away.

[duriandurian]

Thank you. That is interesting re; speed of establishing a garden.
Good point re: over pricing. They have knocked 1/6th off already but it is quite a niche property.
The agents for the other house are asking for best and final so we are crossing our fingers.
Thanks again for taking the time to post.

[caperberries]

I would buy the house with the better garden - it's so much quicker to change a house