What to do with garden

[IAmMyBelovedsAndMBeloveIsMine]

Hello All,

I'm buying a property with a 140ft south facing rear garden.
Any suggestions on what to do with this. I'm planning to put up an outhouse at the very end but open to suggestions of anything additional/better.

Thank you.

With such a large garden it would be wonderful to allocate some of the far end for wildlife e.g. no lawn, trees and bushes, areas for insects, butterflies, birds etc to hide. It would be less maintenance and do so much for nature. Not everything has to be landscaped and beautifully cultivated. Obviously you couldn't just ignore it, just do some pruning now and again. We have a similar area over the road from our house that we own, and it needs very little effort.

In relation to a play area for your child, the best advice we got when we bought a playframe (swing/slide/house/climbing frame type combo) was to buy something that was challenging at the time you’re buying it and pay the extra for someone to put it up for you. Big ones are a two person job, need a fair bit of prep and take sometimes a few days to assemble.

If your garden is south facing, bear in mind that the play area will be in the sun for a lot of the day. Which sounds great, but we’re in the south east and it can get really hot in the summer. We need enough shade to be able to spend time in the garden so think about whether that’s relevant to you and how you could achieve it.

Seating - I’d make as many seating areas as possible. Table/chairs, more relaxed seating, somewhere just to sit down for five minutes. Mine likes me to watch them swinging/jumping/whatever and seating was a must!

With a long garden like yours, I’d make the patio area, or wherever you’re going to sit, quite large.

Garden furniture is cheaper in autumn/winter than it is in spring/summer.

You can plant a “meadow” of wildflowers in grass. You mow after it’s flowered. The wild flowers do best on non improved grass though so look at types of grass and suitable seed mixes if you want this. A few silver birch are very nice too.

A big thank you to all you for all your lovely responses, very helpful. Lots of useful tips and lots of ideas, very much appreciated.
I'll make a note of them all and then as soon as we have the inside done will start actively planing for the garden ....a Happy Christmas in advance to you all 😊