Anyone fancy helping design my awkward back garden?

[buckeejit]

Hi

This is an old pic of my back - where the car is there are patio doors & I need to keep access to that room but currently it's looking out at a Big black drive & it's dull. Current thoughts are a small wall around red line to close off the lower area, whilst allowing pedestrian access & pave/cobble it & allow a parking space at top.

I want to put a cobble border round the lawn & thinking of the shape shown but not sure how to link to where steps need to go-the pink lines and how this will link to a wall or whether this is all too disjointed. We could add levels in the border, if it would help but I feel like I'm missing something! There is a shed behind the GH where a greenhouse will go & veg beds along the middle area beside the hedge.

I'd be most grateful if anyone had some ideas without costs spiralling too much! Thank you!

If you post another couple of pics..one from patio doors looking out and one from bottom of garden looking towards house, I’ll try to help. Send by private message if you think too outing then ww’ll continue the discussion on thread.

@whatisthislifesofullofcare thank you! Here's another couple of photos

A couple of things to think about

• try to keep a level access from the car to the house. If you have a ramp somewhere then you can have a car park and unload a large piece of furniture on a trolley or sacks of earth to a wheelbarrow or a visitor in a wheelchair or a babybuggy can get straight into the house. If you have only steps from drive to house, that can be very limiting.

• what do you want to get out of your garden? more space to sit / eat outside? a veg patch? wildlife friendly + a pond? think about how the people will use the space in order to get a design that works.

• which way is north? everything looks very shady in the satellite image but maybe that is an odd time of day.

Thanks @parietal. The house is split level but we will have access at both sides of the house,we're not adding extra steps into the house.

This area by the patio doors is very shaded so won't try to grow a lot there - maybe a little tree or some sort of focal point, don't want much out of that area other than seeing something a bit tidier outside when in the room & some sort of separation from parking area.

Builder should be coming soon to take a look & I am no clearer. I had also wanted to remove part of the raised beds by the decking to put in an outdoor fireplace, which I would love but not sure how that would fit either!

One last photo from the kitchen which shows from the other side & the area of garden that would be most used-North marked, (excuse the mess!)

It is a much nicer garden that the plan shot suggested! I will have a look now

First thought is: would you consider re-routing the drive/parking to the far end of the garden...drive in and sharp right? Then you could work with a more ‘square’ garden area. The level change doesn’t seem huge at that part. Though it would then mean walking through the garden with shopping etc, but a nice interesting path could be part of the design.

Is this how you mainly access the house? And where deliveries arrive? Where is the door?

Thanks @whatisthislifesofullofcare

We don't have a huge budget so keen to just keep the top bit of drive for parking as is now. This is the back drive & I'm a childminder so park here when working as we avoid the steps at front. We get grocery deliveries around the side of the house usually as closest to the middle level with minimal steps there. Access is either front door at other side of house or the patio doors at bottom, or patio doors for kitchen at decking in summer.

Then I think you are probably on the right path with your first instinct to clear some drive in front of the pstio doors, to improve the view & the ‘inside-outside’ connection. You could plant some sort of L shape hedge to separate remainder of drive as a soft border, with a gap for steps wherever you want them to be. Maybe get this shape right, and done, before you start thinking about how to design the lawn etc. Will you just go over the top of the reclaimed drive with some composite decking, to save digging it up?

Thank you - yes, I think angles are going to fit better than curves. I feel like this is feeling a step closer! By the L shape - do you mean like if we added a low wall to join up with the steps-where I've made blue? That seems a good idea.

I'd like to avoid digging up tarmac if possible but because of the fairly steep incline from lower patio doors, not sure that decking will work, (although I know little about what sort of paving would be good). I had though of using stabilising grid mats & gravel but DJ thinks gravel wouldn't be good. May add a little section of decking at the back corner of the garden -grey bit, as this is where the hammock goes! Thanks so much for your help 😁

Yes re L shape.

re patio/deck: you won’t have to worry too much about the incline of the drive as a whole as the new hedge and wall will act as a level break...so you are only dealing with the part of the drive nearest the house....you could level this part off to get a patio that matched the threshold of the new patio doors. (Of course the height difference between the new patio and the existing higher level will remain but there are many ways of dealing with that).

Good luck. Very interesting project...I can see a hammock and maybe even a nearby garden bar!

Thanks very much @whatisthislifesofullofcare Yes, I'm really coming round to the idea of the L shape linking the wall into the steps.

Will upload photos when it's finally done. Thinking of gravel again between lower patio step & wall with a couple of holes drilled through tarmac to plant ornamental grasses or phormiums. If only money wasn't an issue!

With gardens it really doesn’t hurt to develop them organically; build it up bit by bit, plant here and there and before you know it you’ll have lovely established planting.

Get yourself a spot to sit, and a spot for your hammock, and take it from there.

If the (reclaimed) patio area is not huge you could look at ikea clip together outdoor flooring, I think its between £9-14/sq m. It might just let you have an instant fix, that and your L shape fence/hedge/wall. Fortune favours the brave!

Just putting a little update here of what I call the gravel pit we've put in. Was cheap & cheerful & I love it! Builders are coming in 2 months to put a planter wall behind the garden bench made of reclaimed brick.

Once that's done, we'll overhaul the lawn

I love a garden make-over! That looks great!

@TeamRick thank you! Looking forward to it getting finished but it's such a joy to look out & see life & colour instead of a load of tarmac & most of the plants & pots have just been split & moved from other areas of the garden 😁

That is a lovely transformation and thank you for coming back and updating.