Garden Design in Windlesham.

We design the whole garden up front, so a decision made in phase one is not quietly working against what phase three needs. Then we build it in the order that has to happen anyway — groundworks and drainage first, hard landscaping next, planting and finishing last — and agree the phase boundaries with you so each stage leaves the garden usable rather than half-dug for a winter.

Heathers, rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and pieris all do well on this ground, which is the same acidic, free-draining sand that produced the heathland across Surrey Heath. Lime-loving species — many lavenders and clematis among them — will underperform here whatever the label suggests, and we specify against a soil test taken on your own plot rather than a generic Surrey planting list.

It depends on the size, position and whether your plot sits inside the Metropolitan Green Belt, which covers a substantial share of the land around the village. A modest garden room close to the house is often permitted development; a larger structure, or one on an undeveloped part of a big plot, is more likely to need consent from Surrey Heath Borough Council. We check the specific constraint at the design consultation rather than after you have chosen a structure.

With planting and structures that read as a deliberate edge rather than an afterthought — post and rail where an open, rural boundary suits the plot, denser hedging or screening where privacy from a neighbouring field or bridleway matters more. We look at how the boundary is actually used, on foot and by horse in places, before deciding what goes there.