Awkward garden types and how thoughtful design solves them
Most gardens are not perfectly square, gently sloping and bathed in light.
The reality for many homeowners in Surbiton, Kingston upon Thames, Esher, Twickenham, Richmond and the surrounding area is a plot that presents a genuine challenge: a narrow strip running away from the house, a steep fall to the back boundary, a walled courtyard with limited sky, or a rear garden accessible only through the kitchen. These are not unusual problems. They are the normal conditions of suburban and urban gardening across the KT and TW postcodes, and they are exactly the kind of sites that Flourish has been designing and building for many years.
This page brings together the seven most common awkward garden layouts we work with across our service area. Use the links below to jump straight to your situation, or read through to compare the different challenges.
What makes a garden awkward to design and build
A garden becomes genuinely awkward when its shape, levels, orientation or access constraints force compromises that a well-proportioned open plot would not require. The challenge is rarely just visual – it is practical, structural and sometimes logistical.
The property types across our service area each bring their own characteristic challenges:
- Victorian and Edwardian terraces (Surbiton, Kingston, Twickenham) – long thin plots, restricted side access, heavy London clay subsoils
- Detached and semi-detached houses (Esher, Cobham, Thames Ditton) – sloping ground, significant level changes, drainage engineering on clay
- Urban properties (Richmond, Kingston town centre, Twickenham) – courtyard spaces, side returns and awkward shapes that are rarely treated as genuine design opportunities
What makes awkward gardens rewarding to design is that the constraints force clarity. When you cannot simply lay out a standard arrangement, every decision has to earn its place. That kind of thinking tends to produce gardens that are more considered, more personal and more enjoyable to use than a plot that simply did what was expected of it.
The seven garden types we work with most
Below is a guide to each layout type we design and build across Surbiton, Kingston, Esher, Cobham, Thames Ditton, East Molesey, Twickenham and Richmond. Each section covers the core challenge, the typical location, what the design response involves, and a link to the full guide.
Long, thin and narrow gardens
Most common in: Victorian and Edwardian terraces across Surbiton, Kingston and Twickenham.
The most frequently encountered awkward layout in our area. A single long sightline running away from the house makes the space feel like a corridor rather than a garden. Fences dominate on both sides, and creating distinct zones without the space feeling chopped up requires a considered design approach.
Key design challenges:
- Breaking up the sightline to create depth and interest
- Creating distinct zones for seating, planting and lawn
- Managing planting depth when the width is restricted
- Working with heavy London clay and limited access for machinery
Gardens with no side access
Most common in: Terraced properties throughout the KT and TW postcodes.
When there is no gate or side passage, every material, every piece of equipment and every barrow of spoil has to pass through the house. This affects programme, cost and design choices in ways that are not always obvious at the outset, and understanding it from the start leads to a much smoother project.
Key design challenges:
- All materials and spoil must be carried through the property
- Machinery access is severely restricted, affecting build method and programme
- Heavier features such as raised beds or large paving slabs require careful logistics planning
- Protection of interior floors and doorways throughout the build
Stepped and split-level gardens
Most common in: Larger plots in Esher, Cobham and Thames Ditton, and wherever a property sits at a noticeably different level to its rear boundary.
Gardens with two or more distinct levels, whether created by a sloping site or introduced deliberately as a design feature. The challenge is making the levels feel connected and ensuring movement between them is safe, practical and visually resolved.
Key design challenges:
- Designing retaining structures that are functional and visually appropriate
- Creating steps and transitions that feel natural and safe to use
- Managing drainage across multiple levels on Surrey clay
- Ensuring each level has a clear purpose and feels usable in its own right
Sloping gardens
Most common in: Properties with a continuous fall across the plot, particularly in Esher, Cobham and the Thames Ditton area.
Distinct from split-level gardens, a sloping plot has a gradual and continuous fall rather than obvious steps or terraces. Level usable space has to be created, which on Surrey clay often involves excavation, retaining engineering and careful drainage design. The right response depends on the gradient, the brief and the budget for intervention.
Key design challenges:
- Establishing how much level space is needed and where
- Retaining structures to hold cut-and-fill earthworks safely
- Drainage engineering to prevent water tracking down the slope and pooling
- Balancing the degree of intervention against the brief – not every slope needs full terracing
Wrap-around gardens
Most common in: Corner plots and detached properties throughout the service area.
Plots that extend around two or three sides of the house, with separate side and rear areas that often feel disconnected from each other. Without a coherent design approach, these spaces end up serving different purposes with no visual relationship between them.
Key design challenges:
- Creating a unified design language across areas with different orientations and widths
- Using consistent materials and planting to tie the spaces together visually
- Defining clear circulation routes that connect the different areas naturally
- Managing varying light and moisture conditions across different aspects
Side return gardens
Most common in: Terraced and semi-detached properties across Surbiton, Kingston and Richmond.
The narrow strip running along the side of the house. Often used only as a bin route or left as unloved dead ground, a properly designed side return can meaningfully extend the usable garden or create a distinct zone for storage, planting or access.
Key design challenges:
- Restricted width, often between 800mm and 1.5m, limiting material and planting options
- Reduced light due to the house wall and any boundary fence or wall
- Making the transition between side return and main garden feel intentional rather than incidental
- Balancing practical uses such as bin storage with genuine aesthetic improvement
Courtyard gardens
Most common in: Urban properties in Richmond, Twickenham and Kingston town centre.
Enclosed spaces where high walls on several sides define the conditions. Limited sky, restricted light and often challenging drainage create a design brief that is quite different from an open suburban garden. Done well, courtyard gardens are among the most atmospheric and rewarding outdoor spaces to spend time in.
Key design challenges:
- Selecting plants that thrive in shade and enclosed, reflected-heat conditions
- Drainage engineering where the courtyard has no natural outlet
- Material quality and finish matter more in a small enclosed space – every surface is seen at close range
- Lighting design to extend usability into evenings
Which garden type sounds most like yours?
Use the quick reference below to find the closest match to your situation, then follow the link to the detailed guide. Many gardens combine more than one challenge – if yours does, the guides will help you understand which issues to prioritise in the design.
| Garden type | Typical location | Primary challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Long, thin and narrow | Surbiton, Kingston, Twickenham terraces | Zoning and sightline |
| No side access | Terraced properties, KT and TW postcodes | Access, logistics and cost |
| Stepped and split-level | Esher, Cobham, Thames Ditton | Retaining, drainage and connection |
| Sloping | Esher, Cobham, Thames Ditton | Creating level usable space |
| Wrap-around | Corner plots and detached houses | Unifying disconnected areas |
| Side return | Surbiton, Kingston, Richmond terraces | Width, light and transition |
| Courtyard | Richmond, Twickenham, Kingston town centre | Light, drainage and atmosphere |
Frequently asked questions
What is the hardest garden shape to design?
There is no single answer, because the difficulty depends on the constraints attached to the shape as much as on the shape itself. In our experience across the KT and TW postcodes, gardens that combine a difficult layout with restricted access and heavy clay drainage challenges require the most careful planning. A long thin Surbiton garden with no side access and a compacted clay subsoil is more demanding than a steep slope on free-draining ground in Cobham. The more constrained the site, the more a thoughtful design tends to transform it.
Can awkward gardens still be beautiful and practical?
Yes, and often more so than gardens that offered fewer challenges. Constraints force considered decisions. When you cannot simply lay out a standard scheme, every choice has to earn its place, and the result is usually a garden that feels genuinely resolved rather than assembled.
Is it worth redesigning a difficult garden layout?
In almost every case, yes. The gardens that homeowners in Kingston, Esher and Richmond describe as impossible to use are almost always ones where the design has not addressed the actual layout challenge. A scheme that works with the site rather than ignoring it can transform how a garden feels and functions, and the investment in proper design tends to protect the investment in construction that follows.
Which garden problems need structural work?
Level changes almost always require some form of retaining structure. Drainage on clay soils, which are widespread across the KT postcode area, typically requires engineered channels or soakaways. Any project involving significant excavation needs attention to ground stability and, on sites near the Thames in Richmond, East Molesey or Twickenham, sometimes to flood risk as well.
Do awkward gardens cost more to landscape?
They can, but not automatically. The cost depends on the degree of intervention required. A long thin garden in a Surbiton terrace that needs zoning through planting and paving may cost no more than a standard garden of the same size. A steeply sloping garden in Esher requiring extensive terracing and drainage engineering will cost more. Understanding the site properly at the outset is what allows us to give a realistic cost picture before any commitment is made.
