Gravel garden – Kingston
A narrow lawn and tired patio turned into a gravel garden with two places to sit.
Scope and constraints
A long, narrow rear garden behind a terraced house in Kingston upon Thames, with a side return, an old patio and concrete hardstanding by the house, a lawn and a shed at the end.
- Width. A narrow plot, where a lawn down the middle leaves only thin borders.
- Levels. A change in level at the back of the house, with an awkward lower patio.
- The shed. It had to stay, but out of sight.
- Use. Nowhere to sit and eat away from the house.
Design intent and proposal
A clear route through the garden, with a place to sit by the house, a place to eat further down, and planting all the way, instead of a lawn to mow.
- Take up the lawn and concrete and lay gravel, planted through, so paths and beds become one surface
- A new patio and step at the house to sort out the level change
- A second patio in the garden for dining
- Stepping stones in the gravel as a firm route between them
- Reduce and edge the lower patio, and trellis to hide the shed
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 started with a site analysis and functional layout, then drew two concept options by hand. The owners chose the first, shown here, which became the concept masterplan, followed by a planting schedule priced with the nursery.
What we built
- Old patio, concrete hardstanding and lawn broken out and removed
- Geotextile membrane and compacted MOT Type 1 sub-base across the site, with falls away from the house
- House patio and step, and the garden patio, on a full mortar bed with slurry primer
- Stepping stones bedded and set level in the gravel
- Decorative gravel 25 to 50 mm deep, raked round the planting
- Beds dug to about 250 mm with organic matter
- Edging to hold the gravel, the lower patio reduced, and trellis to screen the shed
Planting palette
Sun-loving grasses and perennials in the open gravel, shade plants and ferns in the corners, and three small trees for height in a narrow space. Once settled it needs little watering.
| Role | Plants |
|---|---|
| Trees | multi-stem Parrotia persica, Cornus kousa ‘China Girl’, multi-stem Amelanchier lamarckii |
| Grasses | Stipa tenuissima, Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’, Hakonechloa macra |
| Sun perennials | Verbena bonariensis, Oenothera lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’, Echinacea purpurea, Erigeron karvinskianus, Stachys byzantina, Baptisia australis, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, thyme |
| Shade perennials | Helleborus orientalis, Tellima grandiflora |
| Ferns | Dryopteris filix-mas, Matteuccia struthiopteris, Polystichum setiferum |
The result
- No lawn to mow, and planting from the back door to the end of the garden
- Two places to sit: one by the house, one for eating further down
- The level change at the house dealt with by a proper step
- Gravel and drought-tolerant planting that needs little watering once settled
- The shed screened from view
Planning a garden like this
Gravel planting does best in sun, so check where the light falls in your garden with our free garden sun planner and read our garden orientation guide. Our guides to long, thin and narrow gardens and side return gardens cover the layout, and Mediterranean gardens covers the planting style.
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 low-maintenance gardens. For another Kingston garden, see our low-maintenance family garden, 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.
