Whenever we start working with clients on an extensive garden project or significant redesign, they often bring along a wish list. It might include a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen, a pergola, or a glasshouse. All these features have real merit, but it’s worth clarifying your priorities first. We always return to one question: how do you want to use the space?
In this blog, I share our approach to choosing the right features for your garden.
Start with how the garden will be lived in
Some clients arrive wanting a certain feature because it photographs well. Some have picked up on a current trend. Others because they’ve just always dreamed of it. But certain features may not work so well for a client in practice.
Rather than a checklist of fashionable features, and long before planting plans and hard landscaping decisions, we consider what the garden design needs to offer for you, your household, your visitors, and even the wildlife your outdoor space might attract.
Here are some questions we often ask:
- Is your garden for entertaining friends, or for your own private sanctuary?
- Does it need to work for family life, with space for children or pets to play?
- Is relaxation the priority, somewhere tranquil to sit quietly with a good book?
- Would a swimming pool serve as a place of quiet retreat, or a setting for shared family time?
- How important is the connection between house and garden?
We always stress that there’s no right answer – most gardens can do several things at once, which is why the planning stage matters. In this award-winning landscape design project in Farnham, careful planning created a strong connection between the property and its surrounding environment, as this was part of the requirements.
Find out more about indoor-outdoor living ideas for a more connected home and garden.
Matching features to the space you need
Different garden features come with different space and planning needs:
- Effective outdoor dining design involves ensuring there’s enough space to fit a generously proportioned table and ample seating, and we always consider shade and distance to the kitchen
- Relaxed garden seating and sofas ask for a different kind of space, perhaps secluded, arranged for long evenings of chatting with a glass of wine rather than eating
- Lawns and plants need breathing room, and a well-designed lawn is rarely just leftover space between other features
- Outdoor kitchens, like a Vlaze installation, need access to the house, ventilation, worktops and storage to perform well
- Swimming pool landscaping brings its own demands too, not just the pool, but the surrounding paving, plants that won’t shed into the water, and screening for privacy.
The challenge is balancing features, so they work in harmony.
Why size changes what’s realistic
An expansive garden doesn’t necessarily need every feature going. We take a more restrained approach, with well-placed features and plenty of open space between them. Filling every corner of a generous outdoor space can make it feel busy and disjointed.
The approach is also different for more modest gardens, where every metre must work harder and decisions about what to include, and what to leave out, carry more weight. One well-designed space – like a dining and sofa area together – might serve multiple purposes and be used more as a result. We worked on a garden project in Ashtead that incorporated an outdoor kitchen, swimming pool and fire pit without feeling crowded.
One area can sometimes serve more than one purpose, without trying to make every part of the garden multifunctional. A terrace that works for evening dining can also work for morning coffee, a place to help children with homework, and provide a quiet corner for pets to rest during the afternoon.
Discover more about choosing a garden design that suits your property.
The importance of scale
Getting a feature right matters as much as choosing it in the first place. This is where we consider scale – and whether a feature might overwhelm a town-house garden or lack impact within a more significant setting.
Glasshouses produced by brands like Alitex or Hartley Botanic are beautiful, but they could swamp some outdoor spaces. Equally, a swimming pool that’s too modest to fit an open setting can end up looking lost.
The same applies to furniture and structures throughout the garden. Outdoor furniture from makers like DEDON or Gloster, or a striking pergola from a brand like Renson, needs to be in proportion with the space.
Practical considerations that shape the design
Maintenance is a practical factor that shapes what will genuinely work on the ground. This will influence everything from lawn size to planting choices. A simpler, well-planned garden can look every bit as beautiful, while reducing the time your maintenance and aftercare team need to spend on site.
Shade matters too. We always chart how the sun moves across the garden to make sure you can make the most of it during the morning, afternoon and evening. Privacy requires the same attention; whether it’s screening neighbours or providing shelter from the wind for a garden set within an open landscape.
Children and pets bring their own requirements – from play areas and safe fencing to durable surfaces. Seasonal use is also an important consideration, so you can enjoy your garden all year round and maximise its potential.
Finally, we find that an area of open lawn or planting, giving the garden room to breathe, is often what makes the rest of the design work.
Bringing it all together
Every feature needs to be considered alongside a wider design, so that individual elements feel connected to the whole. How does each element relate to the house? What is the impact on the surrounding landscape? And how do they work within the garden itself?
If you’re thinking about features for your garden, it’s worth having a conversation early in the planning process. Getting your priorities right from the outset leads to an outdoor space that feels coherent, suits how you live, and will work well for years to come.
If you’re considering a garden redesign, please get in touch to arrange a consultation. Bring your wish list, and we’ll discuss your garden design priorities early.
About Paul
Paul Cowell is our Managing Director. He’s a Chartered Landscape Architect and full member of the Landscape Institute, as well as a registered member of the Society of Garden Designers. Paul is an RHS Judge, sits on show garden selection panels for RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court, and is a member of the RHS sustainability panel.