Family Garden & Play Area

The brief came with a Pinterest board and two young children, which is a good combination to work from: a clear picture of the feel wanted, and a completely unsentimental test of whether it works.

Levels and retaining

The ground had to be held before anything else could happen. The neighbouring garden sits higher, so a retaining wall three to four courses high was built along that boundary to hold the earth back. A second, lower wall of two courses on a proper footing separates the play area from the rest of the garden and contains the bark.

Both are brick rather than timber. Brick on a footing does not rot, does not need replacing in eight years, and holds a curve — and the separation here is curved rather than straight, which is what stops a play area reading as a fenced-off box.

The path

A path runs from the house to the play area, two slabs wide and running slightly beyond the length of the garage. The base was dug out and built up in compacted Type 1, and the slabs matched to the existing paving so the new work reads as part of the garden rather than an addition.

The play area

Membrane first, then Type 1 where needed, compacted, then play-grade bark chippings built up 60 to 80mm. Play-grade matters — it is graded and treated for exactly this purpose, and it drains, which is the difference between a play area used in November and one abandoned after the first wet week.

Planters were built from oak sleepers, three high, each on a concrete footing 100 to 150mm deep so they cannot shift over time. A water play area, a mud kitchen and a chalkboard wall complete it, worked up from the images the client had collected.

Protecting what was already there

A micro digger and dumper were needed to move material. Sheets of shuttering ply were laid wherever they ran, so the existing lawn was not churned up by tracks. Small thing, but the alternative is presenting a client with a finished play area and a ruined lawn.

This was phase one of a wider scheme for the garden.