The split-level garden

Teamwork has enabled Graham and Judy White to transform the challenging plot around their Staffordshire home into a garden to be proud of, says Sue Bradley

- Sue Bradley

GOING with the flow has proved to be the key to creating a truly beautiful garden for Graham and Judy White. Faced with a split-level and L-shaped plot containing a natural stream, swamp and thicket, and very little else, the couple from Uttoxeter in Staffordshire took their time in making it beautiful and accessible, while imbuing it with their own personality.

All in all it took 17 years to complete the hard landscaping and key planting, with the Whites developing their ideas as they went along rather than working to an overall design.

“I think we would have lost heart if we had planned it,” laughs Graham. “We just kept doing a bit at a time.”

Among the first tasks was the need to bring in plenty of topsoils to replace the layers scraped away by builders when the Whites’ home was constructed 28 years ago.

Further challenges were presented by the steep 250ft (76m)-long embankment between the level ‘top garden’ and the natural stream below, which Graham tamed with flights of steps and quirky structures such as a ‘bell tower’.

Challenging water issues

Water retention has been another issue, with the Whites placing herringbone drains under their upper garden and laying block paths around walled raised beds in the area above the stream to make it more accessible.