How to Design a Sloping Garden

Designing a sloping garden is a challenge.  I’ve written about this before, because I have designed many sloping gardens and I love doing them.  Designing a garden on a slope is not easy, but with a bit of careful planning they can look stunning. To create a garden on a steep slope needs a detailed plan and a large budget – expect the same kind of investment as building an extension to your house.

The level changes in a steeply sloping garden make it easy to divide into different rooms and it is possible to create an interesting journey around the garden using steps and ramps.

Small sloping garden design in Bracknell, Berkshire

The most important part of the design process when designing a steep garden is the survey.  When designing any garden it is necessary to know the exact size and shape of the site.  With a sloping garden you also need to understand how the ground levels vary around the garden.  I have written other articles about surveying techniques including:  triangulation, offsets, and surveying levels.  Once the levels changes have been measured, you can start thinking about how to structure the garden to create useable spaces.

 

 

Visual for a sloping garden in Basingstoke, Hampshire 

 

When designing a sloping garden the best solution is to create terraced levels.  Not only are flat spaces required for seating areas, and lawns, but planting is much easier to maintain and water if it’s in a level border.  To create the terraces the site must be divided into separate areas, then retaining walls will be needed to flatten out each section of the garden.  Retaining walls will not only be required along the front of the new garden terraces, but they will need to wrap around the sides of each area as well. 

  

Sloping garden design in Kenley, Surrey

The best way to calculate the heights of the retaining walls required for each part of the garden is to draw up the level survey as a section/series of sections through the garden.  This drawing shows very simplified section.  Unfortunately, you will rarely find a garden with an even slope from top to bottom like this.  You can see from this diagram that making an area larger or smaller changes the height of the retaining walls required.  

 

A sloping family garden design in Reading, Berkshire

When terracing a sloping garden, it is best to use more walls at a lower height than one enormous wall.  Large retaining walls in a garden can look overbearing and will make some parts of the garden hard to access.  Garden walls above 1.8m, or 1m adjacent to a road will require planning permission. 

 

Design visual for a large, sloping garden in Guildford, Surrey

When terracing a sloping garden, it is best to use more walls at a lower height than one enormous wall.  Large retaining walls in a garden can look overbearing and will make some parts of the garden hard to access.  Garden walls above 1.8m, or 1m adjacent to a road will require planning permission.

 

 A large sloping front garden design in Woking, Surrey

 Once you’ve decided on the areas and the heights of the retaining walls needed to create the garden terraces, you’ll need to decide how you are going to access the levels.  You’ll need steps or ramps to move between the different garden levels.

Steps should have a total height of no more than 150mm which means that if the level change is 600mm you will need four steps.  Ramps should not be too steep and should have a slope of no more than 1:12 which means that for every 1m the rise should be 12cm or less. 

 A sloping garden design in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire

Take a look at some of the sloping gardens I’ve designed – Kenley, Surrey (http://www.linseysgardens.com/port_young.asp), Binfield, Berkshire (http://www.linseysgardens.com/port_malt.asp), Binfield, Berkshire (http://www.linseysgardens.com/port_lee.asp), Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire (http://gardendesignuk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/steeply-sloping-garden-design-in.html).

If you need help designing your garden, including the provision of plans for all types of planning applications please get in touch through my Web site www.linseysgardens.com or email me linsey@linseysgardens.com.