A shady courtyard town garden in Kingston
A 5 m by 5 m courtyard rebuilt around a grey porcelain terrace, gravel, a slatted rear fence and planting chosen for shade.
Scope and constraints
A rear courtyard of about 5 m by 5 m behind a house in Kingston, shaded for much of the day by the houses and boundaries round it. It had old artificial grass, an overgrown raised bed built from railway sleepers, a tired timber shed and fencing that did not match. The owners wanted somewhere calm they would actually use, that would need very little looking after.
- Shade. Little direct sun, so any surface had to resist algae and stay safe underfoot, and the plants had to be happy without sun.
- Size. Room for a table and chairs without the courtyard turning into one slab of paving.
- Water. Surface water had to go somewhere without a complex drainage system in a small space.
- Access. Limited access, and a fair amount of clearance to get out before any building could start.
Design intent and proposal
The aim was one calm, contemporary courtyard rather than a patch of paving with borders round the edge.
- Porcelain for the terrace, chosen for the shade: better grip when damp and less algae staining than natural stone
- Gravel as a main surface, not an edging, so rain soaks away through it and the courtyard feels softer
- Large porcelain stepping stones through the gravel to give a clear route without breaking up the space
- Seating set towards the back of the courtyard, framed by planting
- Slatted timber fencing as a quiet backdrop for the planting
- A small planting palette coming up through the gravel and planting pockets, with one multi-stem tree for height
- One low-key focal point in the seating area
The drawings
Designed by Craig Davis, BSc (Hons) Horticulture, and Eli, our in-house garden designer, who holds a BSc in design and a postgraduate diploma in garden design from the London School of Garden Design. Eli’s layout drawings were used to talk the options through with the owners before any work started, followed by the 1:50 planting plan below setting out each plant.
What we built
- Artificial grass, sleeper bed and old shed cleared and taken away
- Geotextile membrane under all paved and gravel areas
- Compacted MOT Type 1 sub-base under the terrace, laid in layers
- Grey porcelain terrace in a staggered bond on a full mortar bed, falling away from the house, joints grouted
- Grey granite gravel with large porcelain stepping stones, held with a discreet edge restraint
- New slatted timber fence along the rear boundary
- Planting pockets improved with topsoil and organic conditioner, planted and mulched
- The owners’ terracotta plaque, a family piece, fixed to the new fence as the focal point
Planting palette
One multi-stem tree and 41 plants, chosen to cope with shade and planted through the gravel and into the improved pockets.
| Role | Plants |
|---|---|
| Tree | Amelanchier lamarckii, multi-stem |
| Evergreen structure | Sarcococca confusa, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, Luzula nivea |
| Flowering perennials | Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Bistorta officinalis ‘Superba’ |
| In the gravel and paving edges | Erigeron karvinskianus |
| Climber | Trachelospermum jasminoides on wires |
The result
★★★★★
Grey granite gravel with large porcelain stepping stones leads down the garden, and it drains well and doesn’t go mossy. It’s been transformed from a garden we hated into a lovely courtyard garden which we love and actually use now.
Chris, five-star Google review, October 2026
- A terrace big enough to sit out and eat, in a courtyard that still feels planted
- Gravel and porcelain that drain and stay clean in the shade
- Low maintenance, as the owners asked
- A family piece given a proper place in the garden
Rated 5.0 from 57 Google reviews. Read what our clients say.
Planning a shady courtyard of your own
In a courtyard, walls, fences and the houses next door decide how much sun each corner gets. Check yours with our free garden sun planner and read our garden orientation guide for your aspect. Our courtyard garden guide covers layouts, materials and plants for small enclosed spaces, and planting for shade helps with the darker corners.
Explore further
See how our garden design service works, with fixed design fees, or read about our landscaping in Kingston. The services used here were design and build, patios and paths and fencing and screening. For another small garden we designed, see the courtyard garden in Surbiton or the gravel garden in Kingston, or browse the portfolio.
Get a quote for designing your garden
Tell us where your garden is, roughly how big, which way it faces and what you would like from it. A few photos help. We will arrange a visit and send you a fixed design fee in writing.
This page was written with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy by Craig Davis, BSc (Hons) Horticulture.
