Compact suburban London garden, Surbiton

January, 2025

“Our daughter was giddy with excitement with your garden design.”

“The design is so different to what we thought possible.”

Date: January, 2025

Location: Surbiton forever family home

Client brief: The current garden is laid to astroturf and surrounded with dominating, high fencing on all sides and edged in wooden sleepers containing a few perennials. The aspiration is to create a beautiful, calming and relaxing space which can be used for entertainment and play and enjoyed from within the house and outside across the year. A garden with blossom trees and perennial planting with delivers colour, scent and interest.

Site: 10 x 10m rear garden (100sqm) laid to astroturf

Design concept & response: A forever home with a compact rear garden in need of a full makeover. The design takes its inspiration from the way the River Thames flows around Raven’s Ait, a river island closeby. The entertainment area is moved into the centre of the space and lush, textured and colourful planting flows around the central terrace. Multistem Betula and Amelanchier add height, drama and atmosphere to the garden. A high beech hedge hides the dominant fencing and adds to the feeling of enclosure whilst creating year round interest and habitat. A calming and relaxing atmosphere is achieved. An integrated floating seat creates a place for the family to dine out.

Discuss Your Project

The Inspiration

The inspiration for the design comes from the way the River Thames flows around Raven’s Ait close to Surbiton. A central entertainment terrace is surrounded by planting which delivers a ‘green hug’ to the entire space
Lasting Memories

The garden design concept is focused around creating lasting memories. Creating a space to come together and a space to share. A garden for the family to share experiences with family and friends. A place to share with nature and where biodiversity thrives.
Creative small garden design

It is often more challenging to develop creative design solutions for small gardens due to the number of competing requirements. David is a professionally trained designer with a proven record of delivering great design in small spaces.

Before

The 10×10m compact garden was laid to astroturf and surrounded by dominant fencing. The garden was devoid of trees with limited planting in raised wooden sleeper beds. The patio doors lead out onto a narrow terrace running along the rear of the house.
The Design Process

Working with specialist garden design software including Vectorworks and Sketchup and traditional hand-drawn techniques, David develops creative design solutions which meet the client brief and are presented at Outline Design Stage.
Look and Feel

The design aesthetic features porcelain planks as a central feature echoing the railway heritage of Surbiton. The design is loose and flowing in nature and the planting supports this feeling delivering a ‘green hug’ combined with colourful and fragrant perennials.