Kempston, Bedford

  The owners had rather forgotten about the front of their cottage, focusing mainly on the interior and the back garden. The fence was old and rotten, half the front area was concrete and the rest poor tired soil, baked by the sun. Their plan was to have the house repainted and to replace the fence with a reclaimed brick wall.

The first step was to dig up and save all wanted plants and then remove the broken concrete fence posts. The idea of having garden either side of the front door was suggested and so the thick concrete was removed and cleared. This left a large area that needed filling with topsoil and well rotted manure.

Having spread, dug and levelled a little more than a tonne over both sides of the garden, the design of the path could take shape. They wanted a cottage feel and something more that just slabs or concrete. So we went for quarry tiles. Having had a floor replaced in the house, they had kept these tiles and with the edition of 'rope' edging, it really made a huge difference.

  They wanted height in the garden but not so much that it would obscure the view from either window, so Verbena came into play again, especially suited to the hot sunny position. Cottage garden plants were also used, mainly Delpiniums, Rudbeckia, Alchemilla, hardy Geranium to name a few and also any Hollyhocks that had survived the build. Box hedging was used along the path and the original roses were trained and seemed invigorated with the addition of fresh soil and food.

  An seep hose irrigation system was burried around 10cm under the soil and also a branch of this was led to each hanging basket either side of the door which could be controlled via inline taps. This all led back to a timer attached to the outside tap. The photos are taken a few months after completion.