Modern outdoor living

This project is one of our favourites. Graeme and Justine gave us free reign on their design and we are so happy with the result.

The garden was a blank canvas and Dawn, Tracy and Alex wanted to create separate seating areas for them and their teenage children. There was a hot tub to incorporate, originally on the patio outside the house, that we moved to a part screened area on the left hand side of the garden. There are now three seating areas, one for formal dining under the pergola and another casual seating area just outside the kitchen which gets the evening sun. A firepit area made of gabions and oak tops is the perfect place to gather at the end of the day with all family and friends. The walkway in the centre of the garden is covered with 6 Catalpa bignoniodes trees that link the pergola and hot-tub areas. The lime-coloured trees look stunning against the darker green of the Oak at the rear of the garden. Finally plank paving in gravel lead from the house to the back of the garden create a journey through all the planting borders.

Ben and his team cleared the site and ensured the levels were correct before laying the granite paving on all seating areas and the plank paving for the pathways. Corten EverEdge was concreted in to define the planting borders and separate the gravel from the lawn. They also built the gabions for the firepit, installed the irrigation system and turfed the lawn areas.

Camen built the pergola, the screens around the hot tub and the fencing on top of the wall all from Oak which looks beautiful.

Warren and his team ran cabling throughout garden for electrics and lighting which is stunning at night. Uplighters have been placed under most of the trees including the Catalpas and festoon lighting under the pergola which are zoned and are all WiFi enabled.

The planting theme was low maintenance, evergreen with purples and whites to give all year round colour.

A fantastic team effort for the month long project which finished on time and within budget.

Client review: Its a couple of months now since the team completed our garden project and I still look out the window and think is this really our garden. It is beautiful. Picking a partner to work on any project is never easy and a garden is no exception but from design through to execution the team were brilliant.They listened to what we wanted , came up with two very different designs, advised on different aspects as required and delivered a unique product through hard work and attention to detail. The project took just over 5 weeks to complete and Ben and the team were on site every day come rain or shine. Ours was a big project and I know it was not easy to bring all the aspects together seamlessly from planning through to sourcing materials and plants, coordinating all the various tradesmen including joinery and electrics and ultimately delivering the finished garden but they did it..Everyone who worked on our project took pride in what they did no matter how small a part they played.and that is rare. We are delighted with our new garden and would highly recommend Essex Garden Design if you are considering a garden project.. Thanks to everyone for all their hard work and for creating a garden that we can enjoy for years to come. Graeme and Justine McGeachie