Weird shaped garden west facing garden

[SarfE4sticated]

HI there - we are buying a house with an odd shaped garden and I'm not sure what to do with it. I've attached a pic of the plan - it's the plot marked 2B. the house is 6 m wide and the garden is 12 metres long, but it's a really odd shape, it is also West facing. At the moment it is just grass, with a deck outside the back of the house, but I would love to transform it to an wild life haven full of cottage garden plants.
We'll use it mostly for looking at from the dining room, and for sitting out during the summer (if we actually get any sun!) so it won't need to be particularly functional. I feel like it is the one weak spot of a lovely house, and we will need to sell one day, so I would be willing to pay for a designer to get it right from the start.
I wondered about maybe trying to buy some garden from the house next door but that looks complicated/expensive.
I have googled, but most design sites seem to show massive gardens, whereas this is pretty small.
Any advice, links or (London based) designer recommendations would be really appreciated :D

I’ve a west facing garden and from about 1pm the sun is in the garden till it sets. I love it!

Thanks Fucky. Annoyingly we will have a house at the bottom on our garden. 🙄

How much of a gardener are you? Do you enjoy gardening? Or would rather something that looks after itself?

I love gardens, and am happy to spend an hour or so a week weeding, planting bulbs etc, and watering in the evening but don't have a massive amount of time to devote to it. Would rather have lots of established lovely flowering shrubs and roses. DD is a teen now, so no need for trampoline or swing. Would love a miniature Sissinghurst but know my limitations!

I think west facing gardens are lovely, just think of the sunsets!
I've just been grappling with a new build garden too, you are going to have such a lot of fun!

Is your garden the almost triangle bit behind 2b or the bit next door?

yes Penelope the long thin triangle behind 2b, annoyingly the view out of the dining room (directly above the '2' on the plan) looks slap bang on the middle of the slanted fence. The kitchen window looks directly onto the slanted fence too but I don't intend to spend too much time at the sink. I wonder whether to put mirrors along the fence to make it look bigger, but it might just confuse the dog/cat local birds!

I can upload some more pics to give you a better idea...

the view out of the dining room looks slap bang on the middle of the slanted fence
Put something really beautiful and possibly shallow! right at that spot.
Perhaps the designer that you find can help to mask the shape a bit.

Crossed posts with your photos.

You could make a path from the middle of the decking to the middle of the fence on the left. Then in front of where the path meets the fence plant a tree so the narrowing fence is mostly out of view. And it gives the impression the path is meandering down the garden. It would also take your eye from the house behind.
Is the decking big enough to sit out on. If so the rest of the garden can be flowering shrubs and trees.
Put some really firm eyelets and wires /trellis on the fences then you are free to plant climbing roses/ clematis/ jasmine etc.
Do you need to keep the lawn for DCs /dog to play? You could replace it with slabs near the house with perhaps rock plants between. Then put a mix of shrubs and plants at the narrow end with just a path for access.

Looking at how the TV designers tackle similar shapes, I’d plant and construct focal points in a zigzag arrangement to draw the eye to the end, whilst making the garden seem wider and longer.

I think I'd grow climbers up those fences, they are the main view.

Firstly I'd paint them, something like a pale sage green, then I'd plant climbers to cover them, things like honey suckle, maybe some ivy, clematis etc.

I think once the fences look good and a feature it will look a lot better.

If it's W facing, then the fence on the right as you look out will be south facing and good for climbers. The fence on the left will be north facing, so climbers on that fence will shoot to the top and then present all their flowers to your neighbours.

Try googling on "town gardens" "small" and looking at the images. A lot of garden planning advice on small gardens centres around trying to disguise the edges so it doesn't look like a rectangular box. So you already have the advantage here in that you are starting with an interesting shape.

See what you mean about design sites charlotterowe.com/town-gardens-and-courtyards/ focuses on town gardens, but her pictures are of huge gardens! Rather like the oft quoted remark of some famous gardener (possibly Gertrude Jekyll) that any garden "no matter how small" should have 1/4 acre devoted to nuts.

Thanks everyone! your ideas have been really helpful.
I have googled (thanks to your suggestions) and come up with some really nice ideas

1. a pale grey/blue painted square trellis placed over the top of existing brown standard fence with climbers growing through - (can't find the pic now!) but it looked lovely, so will do that on the slanted fence so that the climbers get some decent sun.
2. triangles (thanks beebumble) I saw accentgardendesigns.com/portfolio/small-irregular-garden-guildford/this and thought it could definitely work. It would give me one decent deep bed, and then the option for a couple of trees (possibly nuts ) at the end. I'm not wedded to the idea of a raised bed, but I think the plan could definitely work.

I would love a couple of trees, maybe a coppiced silver birch and a may tree? ooh thanks everyone, I feel really excited now.

Yes MereDint Charlotte Rowe may not be my 'go to' designer here!
I don't think my part of SE London will be ready for that amount of sand stone, and a rill!

This is a similar garden, they've built a pergola over half the decking for some shade and privacy


AKAanothername I can't see your link unfortunately, but it sounds nice.
I worry that we might not have enough sun for a pergola, but I do like the idea of privacy.



Try again

Definitely zig zag of a sinuous path. You could have several trees. Get rid of the lawn, Lots of height. That will disguise the boundaries and make it look bigger.

www.idealhome.co.uk/garden/garden-advice/thin-plot-garden-design-74082

I'm wondering about whether to plant a multi-stem silver birch at the end of the garden to make it a bit copse-y at the thin end, maybe underplanted with some grasses, and dogwoods. My thinking is that if the bottom of the garden is white, and a bit blurry the eye might settle somewhere a bit more structured in the wider part.
Some of the silver birches I have seen seem to grow really big, and I don't want the neighbours at the end to get subsidence from the roots - can you recommend any varieties?

I've been trying to find an online planning tool, but they don't seem as good as the original BBC Gardeners World version.
I won't give up my day job!

Update

Hi everyone, hope you are all OK and enjoying this time at home in the garden.

I am still umming and aahing about the layout of my garden, and have thought I might make the lawn into two intersecting circle with plants in the gaps between see rather rough sketch. I just wondered in order to make the garden look less tapered, should I make the circles the same size? or maybe make the further one bigger?

also
If I paint my fences, will the paint bleed through to the neighbour's side? Would I be better using something else like trellis and paint that instead?

and suggestions or inspiration would be appreciated.