Willing turning my small garden into a courtyard garden put off future buyers?

[Garlicansapphire]

I have a small shady shabby garden which is not level - sloping from left to right with crappy weedy lawn and strays weeds and overgrown shrubs at the edges. It doesnt have a patio just a strip of concrete and manhole cover next to the french windows. It needs a makeover.

I would really like to get a garden design company into to level it and turn into into a courtyard garden edged with shrubs and pots where we could sit out to have barbecues, eat meals and have evening drinks. But I wonder if it will put off future buyers with small children. I live in a very popular suburb of london with great state schools and a villagey feel, the house has large rooms and is well kept/designed for family life. The garden currently lets it down. But it your kids were crawling/toddlers would it put you off?

I shall need to downsize in about 7-8 years (as XH still owes a share in the house and I have to buy him out when younger DCs leave further education). I am torn as I'd like to maximise my enjoyment of the house - the garden is never used now.

If you can afford to do the work do it and enjoy your garden, your situation may change, don't worry about hypothetical future buyers needs.

Make your house nice for you.

Is it a lack of lawn you're worried about? For me, a pleasant, useable garden is more important than a lawn. If you're in London there's probably a park down the road any way.

It would put me off.

The most important thing for me was that I could see the garden from the house and they could play safely with minimum supervision.

You can see the garden from the french windows in the kitchen/dining room. We did have a large trampoline out there when the kids were little and they had a lot of fun with friends out there as we adults sat drinking (tea sometimes) and having a laugh. Now neither teen ever steps out there and I cant put a table and chairs out really on a scruffy sloping 'lawn'. I am minded to do what I want and get the most enjoyment I can out of the house here and now... But when my kids were crawling/toddlers it would probably have put me off.

Havent really got the cash for it but I will think about how I can...

Anyone know how much it might cost? London prices.

When we lived in London with small children we didn't have a lawn. The hard surface in the garden was great for wheeled toys, ride ons and the sand pit.
You could budget for the hard landscape and do the planting yourself. Have a look on Pinterest for courtyard garden ideas.

Good point about the ride on toys etc. Thanks for the pinterest suggestion. I'm not looking for blue painted fences, straight lines and white walls and sculptures. More an aged brick round circle of cobbles/pavers, raised beds and a more traditional feel if you know what I mean. A garden room I can still do a bit of gardening in (but mainly sit and drink wine in with friends).

It would put me off. I would also be weary of it becoming an oven on hot days. Why not get the garden leveled, even if it is only partly leveled it would become a more interesting space.

I think the answers of those who have recently lived in London with small children may differ from those who have not.

Fwiw I'm in the former camp.

Something like these are lovely. So long as you don't have a pond or poisionous plants that look edible you'll be fine!

It's quite a dark north facing garden so won't ever get hot. Many flowers won't thrive. Yes Moving I think those are lovely.

I live in an area of backyards and a lot are like the kind of style you want. They're lovely. I'd go for it.

I live in Sw london and paved gardens are much more practical unless you've got at least 40 or 50 ft gardens. Smaller than that and you've no space for even a shed really (particularly if terrace width gardens). I'd say 70% of the gardens round me are paved. The remaining are either overgrown or AstroTurf (yes really!)

We are currently looking to move and I have to say we aren't considering homes without a lawn due to having a young family. That's us thou, others will love it. Different strokes for different folks.

Yes, it would definitely put me off. I live in London and left my last house solely because it only had a courtyard and not a garden.

It would cost so much to re-landscape it!. Why not spend that money on levelling the lawn and a gardener for two hours (£50ish) per fortnight?

I was also SW London and to be honest you were just grateful to be able to afford any outside space!

We were going to replace our lawn with artificial turf but couldn't get anyone to do it because it wasn't a big enough job

We bought a house with just that and it's great useable all year round with minimal maintenance. Our garden would be small and boggy with grass. We have large bushes at the end and climbing plants on the side walls. We have preteen children and they use the garden more than our old house with grass but isolated from the kitchen.

I live in London with two toddlers; it would nt put me off actually because my children play on our stone patio more than our lawn. I also agree with the pp who said make the garden work for you now.

We are west London and moved to a house with a small east-facing garden just before DD was born. It had already been heavily landscaped with areas of paving slabs and pebbles. It didn't put us off at all. We have put in some raised beds with built-in seating, and a trampoline. As our house is literally opposite a lovely park we were happy to have our garden more as a kind of outdoor room, somewhere social to eat and drink in good weather (while DD and her pals bounce away in the corner).
I think a well designed and well maintained garden is going to look more attractive to buyers than an unloved patch and a token lawn. Pinterest has some great ideas for making the most of small spaces, and thoughtful modern planting could make it stylish as well as practical.

I have small children and this is exactly what I would do with a small shady place. There are parks if you want to run around.

What we want is somewhere nice to sit and drink wine/tea. Lots and lots of space for planting; raised beds, climbers, shrubs or trellis to make hidden corners. My 7 year old would like somewhere secluded to lie in a hammock and read and my toddler would be happy with somewhere to dig and something to ride her trike round and the plans you are talking about would suit that just fine.

Thanks Firenight. Thats encouraging.

You can make it a really child friendly space without grass. The dependency on lawn is, frankly, for non gardeners!

We've turned our garden into a courtyard and we all love it, my kids are aged 5,10 and 15 and they don't miss the 'lawn' at all. We've only received positive comments from visitors as well so I think you'll be fine

at the other end, my DC are almost off my hands, and I'd love to not have a garden, as I'm not well enough to look after it . I've been looking on Rightmove at flats, but actually a house with a courtyard would fit my criteria as well. I'd rather a well thought out courtyard than a weedy patchy lawn that I can't mow.