A Terraced Garden in Shaldon - A Garden Design for a North Facing Slope

BEFORE

JUST AFTER PLANTING

This rear garden has superb views of over Shaldon, Teignmouth harbour, the sea, the Teign estuary and the hills beyond. 

Although it is north facing, it is in fact a very sunny garden and because it is on a fairly steep slope the soil is well drained. 

The clients main concern was that between the recently built deck area at the top of their garden and the sunnier level area at the bottom they had to negotiate a steep slope (total drop 2.4 metres over 3.2 metres) . 

The existing steps had seen better days and the fact that they ran down in one continuous flight made them seem all the steeper and more daunting. 

The slope also made maintaining the planting either side of the steps very difficult indeed.  

As garden designers we felt we first had to address the practical problem of getting up and down the garden. 

With safety and comfort in mind we made the new steps wider, the treads deeper and we introduced changes in direction and landings. Not only did this make it easier to get up and down it also made the journey much more interesting.

Access paths off the new steps, across the garden, also make tending the planting easier while the low sleeper walls retaining the slope effectively turn the planting beds into easily maintained raised beds. 

The planting plan was designed for easy maintenance and to look good all year round. at the same time as coping with the well drained soil and open position exposed to the estuary and sea winds. Overall, we employed a mix of flowering shrubs for year-round interest and some perennials for summer colour.

The after photos were taken just after planting we will update them as the planting develops.