What would you do with this garden?

[MemoriesOfAnotherFuture]

Decent amount of space. But all paved/pebbles. Could this be ripped up and a lawn laid? Would that be a huge faff/expensive?
Disclaimer: not my garden, but one at a house I’m considering buying.
Thanks for any ideas!

Garden designer here. There's getting around the fact that people like to look out of the window and see a bit of green. However if you don't want to go to the expense of ripping up and digging out all of the hard-core which will be underneath the gravel, you could design a nautical style garden using large Scottish pebbles and a variety of drought resistant plants which could be planted within the crevices?

Thanks for your reply. Would ripping up and laying lawn be very costly then? I have a three year old so I would love grass for her to play, at least a small area of lawn with paving too if that would be better.

It looks very stark as it is.

I'd think about some verticals on the fence we can see- 2 or 3 smallish trees or large evergreen shrubs which grow to around 12-15 feet (garryia and pittosporum are good) to give some privacy from overlooking houses and make the garden feel bigger.

I'd 'clothe' all the fencing with climbers and put in a circular lawn with wide borders and have some private seating area in one corner.

I think there is a lot you can do with it. Taking up the slabs and putting down turf won't cost a fortune.

My neighbour had a garden they had pebbled and slabbed over! They had grass put down when they had a grandchild visit. It only took a day to remove the concrete. You could get an odd job man rather than a gardening person to do this, so depends on their hourly rate. Biggest expense for them and you is taking the stuff to a dump because I think there is a charge for disposal.

I have no idea of the cost but would think you'd be looking at a few hundred quid for a day's work and disposal. Then someone to turf it unless you are going to DIY?

What's underneath the paving and pebbles - is it membrane over bare earth or is there hardcore underneath? membrane over bare earth will still take a bit of work do grass but much less than concrete or hardcore would. And is there access other than through the house?

Depending what is under the gravel could you plant up with alpines and grasses, maybe a pond, and some raised beds. Climbers over the fencing. Or keep the patio area and rip rest out!

Thanks for the replies. I’d definitely need someone to do it as opposed to DIY. So odd job man maybe a day to rip it all up? Skip hire and disposal. Then buy the lawn and a gardener to lay it?

Could there be potential problems with the soil quality beneath what’s currentky there?

Cross post Purple. I’m not sure about membrane etc. I might go back and have another look, speak to vendor in more detail.

There is access from the front via a gate in the fence at the end of the driveway.

As a very rough guess I'd be thinking of £1K to have it all sorted.

If there is an issue with the soil all you need do is buy some top soil but in all likelihood you could fork over the earth under a membrane to create a surface for the turf.

TBH OP, the current garden is pretty hideous. I'm guessing an elderly person had it done like this for maintenance or to avoid lawn cutting?
Do get it dug out, gravels removed, top soils laid and the thing turfed.....especially if you have a child.....you will get years of benefit.
DIY Job will be v heavy going and take several weekends. Skip Hire: (I'm in south east £200-£300), soils maybe £500, turf around £500 plus any plants you'd like (phllystachys bamboo around fence would be nice).
Professionally, you'd pay £3-5k (south east price)
If it were me...I'd be hard nosed and want £3-5k off the asking price. The garden is not nice and for many would be a deal breaker.

Vital to get a spade and find out what is under that gravel. Hopefully just membrane, sands etc. But if it is gleaming concrete, you'd have to add another £2k of costs....you'd be into kangos, mini diggers etc....bit of a mare.....I'd have to really want the house badly to deal with that.

The trouble with grass in a relatively small area, surrounded by fences & other houses like that, is what happens to it in the winter when it gets little sun & lots of rain (if you can guarantee to stay off it it’s not so bad)

OP, can you see if neighbouring houses with similar aspect have grass or not & if so, what condition it’s in?

It’s a single woman who lives there at the moment, I’d say around mid 40s to 50 is not elderly! She has a dog though!

There are two other houses for sale on the same street so I’ll check out their gardens- they are both over 40k more due to extensions.

Tinkobell- never mind £3-5k off, I was thinking of offering £10k under the asking... but it’s been on since September with no offers! Got this garden to sort plus a couple of things inside that are more to do with personal taste (eg the gas fire and surround).

You might not have to use a skip to get rid of those materials - pop them on freecycle or a local community garden network - people are always interested in good building materials and will often come and take them away. Much better than skipping the lot.

If it were me, I'd probably get the gravel up [freecycle it] see what is underneath , get that to a standard and sow hard wearing grass seed and see how that grows, before doing the whole garden. It means your daughter will have somewhere to play whilst also keeping the patio for putting a nice table and chairs on. Take note of the grass seed mix, and if you do want to expand, get the same mix for the rest of the lawn.

When you refer to keeping the patio, do you mean the hexagonal area to the right on the photo? Take up the gravel, but what about the square paving slabs dotted around and to the left on photo? Do they count as patio or would they come up with the gravel?

Here are two other gardens on same street!

Take up the gravel, but what about the square paving slabs dotted around and to the left on photo? Do they count as patio or would they come up with the gravel?

I'd take the randoms up. Just to give some non-hard space for your daughter. Thing is with a garden, you kind of have to live with it to see what needs changing as you get used to using it. I never do a garden design without the owner telling me how they use it, and not knowing what is underneath the ground [ex civil engineer]...So a small change that allows you to use it for the time being whilst you think about it and work out how you are going to use it to me means saving shedloads of money for you. If it is all hardcore under there then it is going to cost a bomb and a complete redesign and rethink might be in order. Are there old photos of the property from a previous sale on line at all?

The grass in the climbing frame garden looks good, but it is a much more open area. The other one, more enclosed, looks a bit soggy 😊

Might be worth consulting a local landscape gardener?

The other two pics show it more open but TBH they are pretty awful- not a flower in sight and nothing growing except grass!

You could make the one you may buy really nice with lots of climbers and plants.

If you can get the price reduced and your offer accepted, I'd pay for a garden designer or look at ideas online; Chelsea's coming up soon!

OP....the space does have nice potential. If the house hasn't sold for a while you'd be on good grounds to get a reduction because basically it's not being presented for sale as a "green" space. As other posters have suggested, ask to find out and ideally revisit to explore what's under the gravel.....that really is important to know. The number of plants in pots v the ground is making me a bit wary.

Thanks for all advice. I’ve been back to the house yesterday and vendor told me it is membrane under the gravel. Also I took a closer look and the back left hand side (in photo) is a sort of rockery that does have soil with plants growing in it. So that could be a good starting point to get a small lawned area. To be honest what I am thinking about it for us having a paddling pool for my three year old in the summer! Much comfier under the bum to be sitting on grass area under the pool than on patio/stones/pebbles!