Elegant Courtyard Garden Design
Peace, tranquillity & an oasis of calm

Large & Small Courtyard Garden Design in London

Courtyard gardens come in all shapes and styles. They can be formal areas created using traditional materials such as cobbles, brick and Yorkstone, surrounded by neatly spaced borders of box hedging. They can be sleek, modern spaces paved with smooth limestone or porcelain tiled surfaces and linear outdoor seating.

Hampstead Garden Design: Beautiful & Practical Courtyard Gardens

They can be small and intimate, cool and shady or tiny sun traps. They can be behind a terraced property, sunken at the back of a town house or tucked in the corner of larger country gardens.

Hampstead Garden Design have developed many beautiful courtyard gardens in a variety of different styles and locations.

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Hampstead Garden Design: Beautiful courtyard gardens whatever the style or location

The starting point is always finding out how you would like to use the space and designing the garden around the setting, location and any challenges that these may present.

Whether you are planning a small courtyard garden behind your Victorian terraced house or you have a larger plot which you want to develop, Hampstead Garden Design will work with the space to create a courtyard that will give you a relaxing area to be enjoyed all year round, for many years to come.

Clients sometimes dismiss an undeveloped area between their home and the main garden as a space which is unusable, maybe simply a passageway. Possibly the space only seems large enough to house rubbish bins and a washing line.

We can help you to turn this into a courtyard garden where you can enjoy peace and tranquility, lush greenery and beautiful plants. Or possibly a place to entertain family and friends. The smallest back yard can be the perfect location for a well-designed courtyard garden.

Here are some things to consider when planning the perfect courtyard garden:

The key to creating a beautiful courtyard garden is to fully understand what you want from the area and the constraints of the space. We can then design a courtyard which takes all of these factors into account.

How will the space be used? Alfresco dining for yourself and the family, BBQs at the weekend with groups of friends, a space to relax in the sun or a place to enjoy a little cool shade. Would you like to enjoy the late evenings around a glowing ﬁre pit? Do you have young children, pets or someone who would ﬁnd steps difficult to manage? The answer to this question will help to shape all of the decisions which need to follow.

What is the location for the courtyard garden? Often courtyards are situated close to a property but sometimes the perfect spot is at the end of the garden plot. Knowing how the space will be used may inﬂuence whether the courtyard needs to be somewhere sunny or shady, or perhaps in a quieter less overlooked location.

The size and scale of the courtyard? In built up towns and cities, the size of a courtyard garden will often be dictated by the space available. If you are lucky enough to have a larger garden, it is very important to be sure that the proportions of the courtyard work with your house and the garden as a whole.

What is going where? Courtyard gardens are often small and it is important that the space is well used, that every centimetre counts. Where is the best place for your seating area, what will it look onto and is this the best place for sun or shade? Do you have room to entertain, somewhere for a BBQ or possibly a ﬁre pit. It is often helpful to draw a scale plan to make sure that all of the things on your wish list will neatly ﬁt into your new courtyard garden. You might also want to think about how exposed or overlooked the area will be? You may want to create more privacy using boundary screens, fences or clever use of planting.

What style are you aiming for, traditional and formal, urban & contemporary, intimate and cosy? Courtyards can adapt to almost any style from cosy cottage style gardens, sleek urban retreats or formal spaces with structures such arbours and trellises. Whichever style you prefer will then start to dictate the type of paving and planting which you want to incorporate to create the desired look and feel.

Services and lighting: Often gardens are left unused for many months of the year due to short daylight hours during winter. With careful planning, you can include a lighting scheme in your courtyard garden which will extend the time you can spend enjoying your new outdoor space. Good lighting will also enable you to enjoy the garden from inside your home, providing an atmospheric back drop on chillier evenings.

The budget: Your available budget for your new courtyard garden is an important consideration. Landscaping and remodelling the garden, possibly changing levels or creating useable space from a difficult, sloping area can be expensive, so it is important to decide what you would like to spend from the outset.

Large & Small Courtyard Garden Designs Completed for Clients.

What clients say about their experience and their new garden

I am writing this is my study overlooking my wonderful new garden. From the first meeting to the final work, I could not have been happier. Sarah created a garden for us that 18 months on looks brilliant, even at this time of year. The end result is that we have a garden and new patio that we can enjoy and one that our grandchildren can also play in. Thank you Sarah.

Jonathan, Hampstead Garden Suburb

Sarah has given me the most beautiful garden. She listened to my ideas and stretched them even further. I could never have got here without her. Her landscaping was inspired and her planting has provided me with a year round delight. I would thoroughly recommend her.

Lizzie, London N8

Sarah of Hampstead Garden Design was a delight to work with, she designed a wonderful patio, front driveway and garden planting scheme for us. Sarah understood our brief completely and we are delighted with the finished results. We consider our garden to be another room in our house and are deriving so much pleasure from it. We would definitely recommend Hampstead Garden Design.

Michelle, Mill Hill

We moved in 2014 to a house with smaller and very unattractive gardens, front and back. We didn’t want to wait for years of our own trial and error improving them. A friend recommended Sarah and using her to design and plant our new gardens has been a real pleasure. She listened to our wants and dislikes, surveyed the new gardens carefully to take account of changes of level, supplied plans we could understand, noted our responses to her proposals, adapted them to what we wanted and oversaw the complete and imaginative redesign and planting of the new gardens.

The whole planting scheme was attractive and interesting and within our budget. Even in the first summer (2015) the result was just what we wanted and we’re confident it will get better and better as the gardens mature. We thought her fees were reasonable and she stuck to the figure she had quoted – no hidden surprises. Her communications with us were first rate.
Thank you Sarah!

Robert and Lynette, North Finchley

We were recommended to Sarah by our architect and found her excellent in every way. It was great to have the garden designed so beautifully and it has greatly enhanced our home. All went very smoothly and it was a pleasure to deal with her.

David and Helen, Hampstead Garden Suburb

From the outset, Sarah was a great listener and transferred my vision to a set of plans that my builders found easy to follow. She worked hard to source products that matched my requirements and always went the extra mile to deliver an excellent and cost effective service. Sarah was a pleasure to work with and I am happy to recommend her work.

Amanda, Golders Green

Sarah understood exactly how I wanted to transform my garden and the result is beautiful and easy to maintain. She is very efficient and extremely pleasant to work with.

Vivien, Hampstead

We had a number of meetings with Sarah to discuss ideas and she interpreted what we wanted beautifully. The companies she recommended to carry out the actual building work according to her plans were excellent. Then began the job of choosing the plant layout which, again, Sarah interpreted beautifully. Everything was planted in September 2016 and now, summer 2017, we are reaping the rewards of a mature, easy to maintain, lovely garden, both back and front. Highly recommended.

Janet, Northwood

Elegant Courtyard Garden Design Peace, tranquillity & an oasis of calm