Jerry and Sam started off this job by taking down the Magnolia tree. It seems like a big shame, as they are such beautiful trees, but our customer felt that it was over-shadowing the majority of the garden, and once it was removed we could certainly see the blank canvas before us.
Using a mini digger they excavated the site, digging up a huge amount of concrete, which was all transferred to a skip. There were also two full truck loads of green waste and rotten, slimy timber sleepers to remove.
The paving in situ, at the back of the house is a good quality …. so we are keeping it, to reuse and re-lay at the bottom of the garden. By the patio at the far end will also be a new, timber pergola, and a new, retaining wall in front of the end border.
Once the everything had been ripped out and removed, Jerry and Sam began working on a limestone retaining wall for a new narrow border that will run around the majority of the garden.
The wall runs down to the bottom of the garden, where the small patio is being constructed, reusing the old paving. The retaining wall is higher at the end, to contain the large trees there. A concrete footing is created as a solid base for the wall.
Around this time we started experiencing some heavy rains, which turned the soil into a bit of a quagmire. We added a truck load of composted, farmyard mulch to try to combat it somewhat, along with a temporary rubber walkway.
The remaining paving insitu by the patio doors that was not needed for the patio at the far end of the garden was smashed up to use as a base for a large, new porcelain patio that will be constructed outside the doors.
Sam adds matching limestone edging around the bottom of the walls. The boys worked so hard in difficult conditions. Jerry added a concrete footing for the solid base of the edging that will run between the front of the new, porcelain patio and the lawn.
The lower patio area is looking good already, with a timber pergola left to include further along in the project. The limestone, edged curved border will look great when it is finished off with a newly planted tree. As we work through this job, the area of mud is becoming less and less, as structural elements are added, which makes us all feel happy.
A few weeks into construction, we can finally start to imagine how the area by the house is going to look. The ground has now been levelled, with the last of the old slabs smashed up. Many barrows of ballast are being brought in to grade the level from the garden towards the door of the patio.
Now that this section of the garden was coming together, the boys started laying the new slabs – some beautiful 90x90cm pale porcelain. They really open up this space. Next week colder temperatures, and most importantly some dry days are on their way, which will be very welcome for our teams. Check back in with us soon to see the finished pictures of this Bristol garden design.
