What does garden landscaping in Barnsley actually involve?
Most of the money in a new garden goes into things you stop noticing once it is finished. A garden that slopes towards the house, a lawn that turns to mud every winter, a fence leaning because the posts were never set properly: none of those are fixed by new slabs and fresh turf. They are fixed by digging.
That is the part we are set up for, because groundwork is a big part of what we do, on drives, dropped kerbs and building sites. A landscaping job with us starts with where the ground sits and where the water goes, and finishes with the surfaces you see. Our reviews pick out our landscaping work by name, and the thing customers mention is Liam's advice on how the finished garden should look, not just a price to build it.
Can a sloping garden be made level?
Yes, and on hilly ground like Barnsley’s, plenty of gardens need it. The usual answer is not one flat garden but two or three flat terraces, each held up by a retaining wall or a run of timber sleepers, with a step or a path between them. You end up with ground you can actually use, and somewhere for beds that does not wash down onto the lawn every time it rains.
Sleepers suit low changes in level and look right in most gardens. Where the drop is bigger, or the wall is holding up a drive or a neighbour's ground, it wants to be built in masonry, and as a rule of thumb a retaining wall holding back more than about a metre of soil should be designed by an engineer. Either way the wall needs drainage behind it, because wet soil pushes far harder than dry soil, and that is what tips old garden walls over.
Why does drainage matter so much in a Barnsley garden?
Much of Barnsley sits on the Coal Measures, and in plenty of places that means clay subsoil: it holds water after rain and sets hard in a dry summer. Lay a lawn or a patio straight onto it and the water has nowhere to go. Artificial grass is the worst affected, because it only drains as well as the ground beneath it, which is why it should go onto a compacted stone base rather than onto soil.
The doors are the other place it matters. With bifolds and level thresholds, the patio often finishes almost flush with the door frame. A slot drain along the threshold, like the one in the photo near the top of this page, catches the water before it can sit against the frame.
Does a new garden wall or fence need planning permission?
Usually not. In England a fence, wall or gate is permitted development up to 2 metres high, but only up to 1 metre where it is next to a road used by vehicles, and that includes a front garden facing the pavement. The height is measured from the ground on your side, and trellis on top counts towards it. A listed building, or a home where the council has removed these rights, needs permission whatever the height.
A new wall built on the boundary line itself, rather than wholly on your land, also comes under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which means serving notice on the neighbour at least a month before the work starts.
We put up composite fencing, which does not rot or need staining, and timber close board, which costs less and suits a back garden.
"Cleaned up after daily, worked hard in the heat, came daily from when I was promised."
Fencing, driveway and dropped kerb customer, Heckmondwike, on MyBuilder
Getting a garden landscaping quote in Barnsley
From our Barnsley base we take on gardens right across South and West Yorkshire. When the garden comes with a new drive at the front, our driveways and patios work covers that, and a dropped kerb can go in alongside it. Photos from other jobs are on our work page. For an estimate, which costs nothing, phone Liam on 07709 099108 or use the quote form at the bottom of this page.
