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Garden Design

The Garden Design Process

 

Professional and Qualified Landscape and Garden Design

 

With the experience of some thirty years our qualified experienced and professional landscape garden design team, have graduated from the best Garden Design Colleges and Universities in the country. Our designers have won countless awards at many prestigious garden events, including several gold medals at the top RHS shows. Based on the Cambridgeshire border near the 'Three Shires', Kym Valley Gardens is ideally situated to reach many areas of the country, including, Essex, Hertfordshire, North London, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, The Cotswolds, Lincolnshire. East Midlands, East Anglia, and North London.

 

 

 

 

No project is too large or too small for our qualified team of award-winning Landscapers and Garden Designers with over 30 years of experience in designing and building gardens, from the construction of a garden pond to an entirely new garden, Kym Valley Gardens can work with you to provide the perfect garden of your dreams.

If you are thinking about altering your garden or driveway we are able to offer you a professional and reliable design service provided by one of our highly qualified and Gold Medal award-winning designers, no project is too large or too small for us. So if you have a barn conversion, a country garden' a new-build, a town garden or an existing mature garden then contact us today to book your no obligation design consultation.

Consultation and Brief

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The initial design consultation is a meeting held on site that lasts around one hour to discuss your requirements and expectations and hence establish the garden design brief. From this, the design fee proposal for the design of your garden will be assessed.

 

You may have ideas and requirements of your own that you will want to include in the design, these can be discussed and if possible included in the final design. Some initial photographs and dimensions will be taken at this stage to help the fee proposal process.

 

Alternatively, you may wish to request the consultation only option, this is is a two-hour or more detailed package to discuss any of your requirements and options, it is intended to help you start developing your own garden, or to help you understand which direction to take in developing your ideal garden.

 

You may just want to develop a corner of your garden or you may just need some general help and advice from a qualified garden designer if so this a good option to request.  Clients can also choose this option for long term planning or when developing the garden on a self-design and build basis.

 

 

 

 

Surveying

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the design fee proposal has been accepted we will then arrange for a full site survey this can be carried out using a laser level and tape measures for smaller gardens, however, larger gardens will require a digital survey to be arranged.

 

The surveyor will measure all fixed items (constraints) that are not being removed like trees, fences, and manhole covers etc. The survey plan is then used as a template for the sketch design for the garden. A complete photographic record of the existing garden is also made, other considerations are taken into account at the time of the survey these are soil type, aspect, and drainage.

 

 

 

 

Sketch Design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On completion of the survey, the dimensions and information are drawn onto a scale drawing sheet. Ideas and shapes are then imposed onto the survey plan in this way a sketch design for the new garden is then developed which explores the potential of the garden based upon the information given in your design brief.

 

Once the sketch design is completed it is then presented to you at your home and alterations can then be made to the sketch design if required.

 

 

 

 

Master Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Master Plan is a 2-dimensional finished scale drawing, showing the layout, material specifications, levels and it is also fully annotated. This drawing can then be used to obtain prices for the garden construction from landscape contractors.

 

The Master Plan is also to be used for setting out and the construction of the garden features and borders. The drawing provides a short form of specifications and materials for construction purposes.

 

 

 

 

Planting Design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planting plans detail the types of plants chosen to suit your brief, they will be chosen to help reduce garden maintenance, provide colour, scent, winter berries, stem effects, texture, and structure. A planting plan shows the quantity and location of the plants, along with their Latin names. The plants will be chosen to suit shade or full sun and soil types as necessary.

 

A printed copy of the planting plan can then be used set out the plants and hence plant up the garden once the construction has been completed. You can choose to have a completely verdant planting design or go for a planting scheme with seasonal colour variations, or a mix of both. Planting plans detail the types of trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses and herbaceous plants used in the design.

 

 

 

 

Project Inspection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A project inspection and advisory service are available for you during the construction and planting phase we can hold weekly meetings with you the contractor and architect on site to ensure that the garden is being built as designed and to provide further advice as required. Such meetings will be charged at an agreed hourly rate. Such meetings are held at the designer's discretion.

 

 

 

 

Plant Sourcing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Should you wish we are able to source and supply all the plants listed on the planting plan, we can then arrange for them to be delivered to your address and then carefully set them out as detailed on the planting plan in their final positions, we can even plant the entire garden for you if required.

 

Additionally, bulb planting, planting of ponds, bog gardens, hedges, pleached trees, topiary, and wildflower meadow seeding can also be carried out.

 

 

 

 

Completion Service 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the project is complete we can make additional yearly or twice yearly site visits to check and advise you on how the garden is developing and if required we can offer further advice on your garden and its establishment.

 

 

 

 

Maintenance Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depending on which contractor is chosen to build the project, we can arrange for your garden to be maintained by the contractor for an agreed time we recommend two years for the larger scheme, ensuring the establishment of the plants and that the maintenance of hard landscape and water features are provided.

 

We are also able to provide a written maintenance schedule for you to use or to pass onto another maintenance contractor.

 

 

 

 

Bespoke Service 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can work with you from the very beginning of the landscape scheme right through to the completion of the construction and planting of your garden. We sometimes work on just one particular aspect of the scheme, for example, the planting design, we can advise and visit the very best nurseries with various clients to source the very best quality perennials, trees and shrubs at a very competitive price.

 

Design 

And Build

Kym Valley Gardens are able to offer a full Garden Design And Build package, from survey through to planting, our award-winning team of designers are able to put you in touch with landscape teams that are very experienced in providing an efficient and seamless garden delivery.

 

With countless projects completed Kym Valley Gardens are the perfect choice to undertake your garden design and build project.

Our Design Fees

 

Our design consultation fees are quoted at the time of enquiry and are based on £45.00 per hour plus travel expenses, for visiting sites over long distances mileage will be quoted at 40p per mile. Local Design Consultations are charged at £45.00 only.

 

Typically garden designs will start at around £500 for the smallest gardens. As every garden is different it is only possible to provide a Design fee Proposal for the design work once our designer has visited the site and carried out an analysis of the garden.

 

Planting plans, however, are charged using the total area of the borders and can only be priced once a design master plan has been approved and completed or a full survey of the borders has been carried out.

 

 

 

 

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