When a family in the Cotswolds moved in to an already established garden, which was overgrown and a bit much for them to manage, I was called in to see how we can redesign this plot to keep what was great but to make it work better for them as a young family.

The family of four wanted to have somewhere beautiful to be outside, to make it a bit more low maintenance so that it was more accessible for all, to attract wildlife and most of all so that they could be more self sufficient and grow their own veggies.

The garden was at the rear of terraced property and was divided by a steep change in levels, the back lower section, was not particularly user friendly and as such was very overgrown.

Having optimised the lawn and borders in the front section, we set to, designing a garden in the back half that would not only provide enough veggies for the family of four throughout the year but also attract pollinators and other wildlife and a pretty much constant supply of cut flowers for Mum who worked incredibly hard…

We spent time working with the family planting up and explaining the benefits of growing your own with the young people and also talked at great length about how we could best attract ore wildlife… the result is apparently the youngsters are now eating more veg and even enjoy weeding, but mainly cropping! They have seen a hedgehog, dragonflies, lacewings, stag beetles, 16 varieties of bird and a slow worm.

We are keen to help people become more sustainable in how we live and also how we produce our gardens. We believe in doing whatever we can to encourage people to get outside and enjoy what it has to offer in the name of general well being and a larger vision of sustainability. We also believe that we should also work to integrate our edibles and ornamentals, so that with the right plant choices, we not only attract the right insects, but also so the humble veg patch looks good and not just utilitarian .

Project Manager: Mark Holman