Local Life - Wigan - April 2021

78
Sloping Gardens
Award Winner
by Angie Barker
There can be many challenges to deal with
when faced with designing a garden. It may
be north facing so it does not get much
sun, it may be an odd shaped plot or it may
have terrible clay soil filled with rubble left
behind by the builders – or indeed all three!
With all of these issues there are solutions
but I’m finding that more and more plots
have yet another challenge, and that is a
sloping garden, whether this be sloping
down away from the house or more usually
sloping up from the house. This comes about
as developers look to build on every piece
of ground they can lay their hands on and
as long as they can build a decent house, it
seems that the homeowner is left to their own devices
when it comes to tackling the sloping garden.
The best piece of advice I can give is to work with the lay
of the land as much as possible. This is because whatever
amount of soil you move to achieve a level surface,
say for a patio, the slope and/or the soil that you have
excavated will need a retaining wall. Rather than have a
high structural wall it is usually more pleasing to the eye
to have a series of smaller walls, some of which can be
planted up thereby softening the hard landscaping. This
also gives you the opportunity of making a feature of the
walls themselves, perhaps setting some lights into them
or some interesting stone work.
Having a sloping garden will mean you need steps to
safely navigate your plot. These can be made into a
feature in their own right and if the budget allows, the
wider the better. If you have the space you may also want
to think about having a gently sloping path somewhere,
just so that you can move a wheel barrow about the
garden or should you need disabled access.
Our gardens have been a sanctuary for many of us over
the last 12 months and as we move into spring and the
warmer weather comes, we will want to make the most of
them again. Hubby asked me only the other day whether
it was warm enough to sit out on the decking, not yet I
said (brr) but hopefully it won’t be long before it is and
when it is we’ll be there with a glass of wine to toast the
prospect of a better 12 months for all of us.
Angie is a qualified awardwinning
garden designer
who will plan your garden
to your needs from start to
finish, supplying reputable
contractors and the ideal
plants.
Call Angie now for your free consultation!
Angie Barker Dip GD (Inst GD) BA (Hons)
Garden Design For All Seasons
Tel: 01942 522 405
Mob: 07857 008 383
www.angiebarker.co.uk
Award Winner