Planning a new garden

I have been busy looking at other peoples gardens for ideas of what to plant.  I love these elegant beauties.

 The colours of these flowers would brighten up the patio.

We have a small area in the front of the house that isn't much use for anything as it is on a slope and drives the OH mad when he tries to cut the grass, pushing the mower up the hill, and sliding back down.  It doesn't look very steep in the photo, but take my word for it, it's steeper than it looks.  Especially when its wet and slippery and I have ended up on my derriere a few times.   It is also being used by the local dogs and cats as a toilet!!!  

At some stage we will be looking to move, and hopefully tick off 'live by the sea' on my 60 by 60 list, so our house has to have 'kerb appeal', according to the many 'sell your house' sites.  I hoped that getting the front door fixed would be enough, well that's if we ever find someone to come to do it.  We have had a few people come and look at it, say they will give us a quote and we never hear from them again.  But I can see that a little patio area would significantly improve the area in the front, would be a sun trap and would add that extra appeal in a very competitive market.  We have huge new estates popping up all around us, with special deals on mortgages, exchanges etc. so we have to make our house as attractive to prospective buyers as possible. There is the dilemma of how much do you spend on a house, and would it add enough value to cover the cost?  I'm not sure that this would, but we are in no hurry to move, I love my house, I just wish I could pick it up and move it. So it might be a few years before we make the move, in the mean time we would get good use out of it ourselves.  I can imagine myself sitting in this area in the morning when we don't get any sun in the back, it would also be private as we are in a quiet little corner.


When we moved in we had fields next to us, where I could hear foxes playing in the evenings. now there are houses covering the fields, and the whole area is becoming more urbanised.  It suited us when we moved here as our previous home was out in the middle of nowhere with no bus service so I found myself driving the boys everywhere.  Our needs have now changed as they are grown up and have their own homes, so it is time to find somewhere for our needs.  We are entering another stage in our lives.  It has to be big enough for family to come and stay, and have a garden to grow veg, (well attempt to grow veg) and ideally be within walking distance of a beach.  There is nothing like an early morning or evening walk on the beach to lift your spirits.  When we retire we will have the time to make the most of this beautiful county, the beaches and walks.

Anyway, enough dreaming, back to the reality of getting the garden sorted.

The huge holly tree was bought at a supermarket when it was a few inches tall, so I am very reluctant to get rid of it, ( I am very reluctant to get rid of anything which is why my garden is so overgrown) and it has become a bone of contention between us.

 The house and the garage are different levels as is the fence at the side, so it is going to be more complicated than it sounds.  We contemplated doing it ourselves, but being realistic, we wouldn't know where to start.  I'm not able to do much physical work at the moment, and the OH works long hours.   It will involve digging out tons of earth, and laying either a patio or decking, so we got someone in to have a look this morning.

I had drawn some detailed plans, well hastily scribbled doodles on a bit of paper before he arrived

He did a lot of measuring, and agreed that our thoughts on the layout would probably be the best way to deal with such an awkward piece of garden.  He also suggested he could shape the holly tree into a lollypop shape as it would be a shame to lose such a healthy tree.  Yay one to me!!  He will draw up some plans and costs and get back to us.

Watch this space for 'The Great Front Garden Makeover'