City Garden, Kirkstall, Leeds

This garden is special because I designed it, and built it with my own hands for my partner Gary and myself! I moved into his house in the Sandford Road estate, Kirkstall, Leeds with the express agreement that we would stay for a year to see how well we did together. We agreed that, if things went well he would sell his house after a year and we would move to somewhere a bit more up and coming! Happily we are now installed in our cosy new home with more space around us, friendly neighbours and local shops.

Making the garden in the old house was hard work and very time consuming; I do not construct gardens as part of my Earthworks Garden Design services, by the way! For this exceptional case I wanted to add as much value to the property with as little financial input as possible. It increased the value of the house by nearly ten per cent according to the estate agent. And we had three offers within a week of the house going up for sale.

You can read all about designing and making this "Site Responsive Garden in an Urban Area" here. It may interest you to note that the challenge was to make a beautiful garden that did not stand out in the estate, but rather responded to the surroundings. This site responsive approach is paramount to me, and I see every garden design project in this way.