I did a degree and post-grad in landscape architecture so I’ve worked in quite a lot of multi-disciplinary offices on large schemes – everything from town centres and reclamation sites to wind farms and historic landscapes.
I got into the landscape gardening side about 20 years ago and decided to go freelance. I started working with Tobermore shortly after.
There was a project that involved a lot of different levels in the client’s garden, which I quite enjoy because of my background and experience with construction detail. We needed to create level areas with lots of interest, vistas and surprise elements. It was a really nice, yet challenging one to do.
Some clients have fixed ideas of what they’re looking for. Others know roughly what they want, but are looking to me for more professional guidance. Most often, I’ll go back and forth with the client with draft ideas in the early stages. I find that’s a good way to get things moving when clients aren’t sure where to begin. They may have a vision of what they’re looking for, but knowing where to start is the tricky bit.
In the world of architecture, grey is still very popular. A lot of people are painting their walls and fences grey, which works really well with silver, graphite and charcoal paving.
Bringing the indoors outdoors is still a popular trend too. A lot of people have been asking for outdoor kitchen setups, with semi-covered areas to account for our changeable weather.
The low-maintenance products are always very popular. In terms of style, I get a lot of clients asking for the Mayfair range in silver or graphite. I can see why; it lends itself really well to the modern, clean-lined look.
That said, the Historic range – which is more traditional in style – is also very popular, and it’s lower maintenance because there’s more mix of colour and it’s not textured.
Trends aside, it really comes down to personal choice. And as a designer, I always recommend that you choose the paving that works best for your space – thinking about things like the colours and character of your home and tying your hard-landscaping in with that.
I would say, if you’ve just moved into a new house, don’t rush into design decisions for your garden. Live with the space for a while; work out how you’ll want to use it, and figure out things like where the sun falls at different times of the day. This isn’t so critical with smaller projects, but certainly with larger gardens, you need to spend some time really living with a space and carefully considering how a new design will work for you.
Whether you’re paving your patio or building a new garden path, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for.
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