Gardens for families with grown up kids

Reclaiming a garden for enjoyment, heady scents and glorious flowers

We were tasked to reclaim a garden by a couple whose children had left home for university and work. For years their lawn had been the stage for epic games of football and badminton. Now they wanted to be able to enjoy the more peaceful pleasures of the great outdoors.

Before

Garden makeovers for empty nesters!

We loved working with a couple who for many years had used their garden as an outdoor play room. It was our goal to replace years of fun-filled activity with a vibrant year-round palette of views and textures. They asked for lots of colour and the ability to entertain from the house and garden taking advantage of a range of different aspects and perspectives.

To achieve this we dug up a large proportion of the lawn to create a bed planted with constant change and colour in mind. We made a feature of the previously hidden stone Water Well under the lawn. To draw the eye across this new vista we blended colours from calming blues and purples near the house to hot yellows and reds in a naturalistic area at the far side of the garden. We created multiple perspectives with new seating areas, different focal points using structure and garden movement. We planted 1,000 bulbs to brim with colour through spring and early summer, and shimmering grasses for summer, autumnal and winter colour and interest.

"Soo totally transformed our rather boring, but practical family garden, into a flower haven. Soo is easy to talk to and successfully translated our rather vague ideas into a wonderful reality. Even in the dull winter months there is something of interest to focus the eye; in the spring and summer it is an ever evolving display of colour and interest. We would certainly recommend Soo if you are looking for an empathetic, imaginative and efficient garden designer to transform your garden."