Garden Design in St Albans and Harpenden
I am David Boothman, an RHS Chelsea Award Winning garden designer creating bespoke gardens for clients in St Albans, Harpenden and surrounding areas including North London. I create modern, contemporary gardens that feel connected to the character of their home and setting.
A garden can have a fresh, contemporary feel while still responding to the history around it. I consider your homes location , materials and views, along with the garden’s existing features. These details are combined with your personal brief to help shape the layout, choice of materials and planting, creating a garden that feels individual and at home in its surroundings.
From a complete garden redesign to a new garden planting scheme or masterplan, I’ll work with you to create an outdoor space that suits your home, lifestyle and budget.
Contemporary gardens with a sense of place
My approach brings clear layouts and comfortable places to relax and entertain together with naturalistic planting that changes through the seasons. Depending on the site and your brief, a design might include generous terraces, flowing paths, calming retreats, considered lighting and resilient & low maintenance planting.
When a home has a historic character, as often happens in St Albans and North London, I look for thoughtful ways to carry that character into the garden. This might mean picking up a colour or material from the house, framing a particular view, or finding inspiration in a local landmark. The result can feel contemporary while still belonging to its setting.
One particular client has a terraced cottage garden in the conservation area around St Albans Cathedral and the planting design drew inspiration from the Cathedral’s Rose Window. Its interlocking colours informed a richly layered planting scheme, designed to bring seasonal interest to the sloping garden while keeping maintenance manageable. Explore this garden in more detail.
A design shaped around your personal needs
Every garden starts with its own conditions and possibilities. I take time to understand how you want to use the space, the character of your home and the features that matter to you. The design is then developed around the site, whether you’re looking to transform a period garden or give a contemporary home a more considered setting.
Complete range of Garden Design Services
Full garden design
A joined-up design for your garden, from the initial brief and layout through to detailed plans and planting, selection of landscaper and project build monitoring.
Planting re-design
One of the most cost effective ways to upgrade your garden is by carrying out a planting re-design. A new tailored planting scheme brings colour, structure and seasonal interest to all or part of your garden.
Garden masterplans
A long-term plan for the whole garden, which you can put in place in stages. Often chosen where clients want to build the garden in stages but want to make sure they have a clear plan and sense of direction.
Planning scheme support
Landscape design and supporting documents for relevant planning applications.
Selection of Gardens designed and built in St Albans, Harpenden area & North London
Terraced Cottage Garden
A 150sqm historic terraced garden in the conservation area near St Albans Cathedral. The client brief was to update the planting to create a beautiful, year-round interest, low maintenance garden. Over 1500 plants and trees were planted, transforming the garden and yet maintaining the character and charm of the home and setting.
Modern Cottage Garden
A 200sqm steeply sloping garden transformed into a contemporary space with family entertainment terraces leading straight out of the house into the garden. Local bricks, flint and timber were used to create this Chilterns inspired garden. Naturalistic, resilient planting anchors the design giving year-round interest.
Victorian Villa Garden
The walled garden of an impressive Victorian Villa in Highgate, North London. The neglected & overgrown garden was transformed into a tranquil, oasis for entertainment and relaxation. Multistem Birch and pleached Portuguese laurel created privacy and atmosphere in this over-looked garden.
A proven and clear process from our first conversation
We’ll begin by discussing what you’d like from your garden; the things you like today and the things you’d like to change or add. I’ll create a clear brief which will become the starting point for the design. From there, the process will often include a site survey, followed by design proposals. Once we have agreed a design direction you love, I will draw up the detailed landscaping plans and planting design. We are then ready to assign contractors and get the garden quoted and built. The process is tried and tested and proven to deliver your dream garden.