Finished two-tier sandstone terrace and shingle area on a reclaimed slope in Welwyn.

The sloped garden reclamation

Front garden renovation, AL6, April 2025.

AREA (m2)

75

MATERIAL

Sandstone

WORKING DAYS ON SITE

12

POST CODE

AL6

// PROJECT DETAILS

// THE BRIEF

A sloped mud pit that never drained.

Cat's front garden had two main problems: a severe, unusable slope running straight down toward the house, and no defined boundary. With no perimeter, the sloping lawn had become a muddy shortcut for foot traffic, leaving ruined grass and worn paths. A slope running toward a house also brings a real drainage and damp risk if it is left unmanaged.

// The Concept

New patio beside the house with a step up to a large shingle area, surrounded by flower beds, with red robins along the back edge and a new picket fence around the whole boundary.

// The Garden

Steep, muddy slope running down toward the house, with an old hedge along the path and no defined borders.

// THE GARDEN VS. THE CONCEPT

Same angle. Same crop.

// THE SOULTUON

What we changed.

Rather than just paving over the problem, we built a two-tier terraced design to manage the gradient and reclaim the boundary. We fitted a classic perimeter picket fence to stop the neighbourhood foot traffic for good. To handle the slope, we built a structural retaining wall in heavy-duty timber sleepers, splitting the garden into two level tiers. The main space was finished in riven Autumn Brown Indian sandstone, with raised sleeper planting beds and curved shingle areas.