When buying a new build home, the one thing that is almost never up to scratch is the garden. I mean, you're lucky if they even gift you grass instead of leaving a big pile of mud, right?
As god owners, we knew that a major part of our home would be the garden, we needed a good size one, with 6ft high fences for our bouncy Boxer puppy, Sox. Lukcily for us, lour Charles Church home already came fenced and turfed, they even included an outside tap and a side gate - exciting!
However, once into the grim depths of winter, we knew that our soggy turf, crazy dog and white floor tiles, were not a good mix! We knew that we couldn't last much longer and I was getting quite tired of having to bath the dog and mop my floors every time he went for a wee!
The hunt started for a reputable landscaping firm who could fit us in as soon as possible. After a few quotes, a read of reviews and a chat with hubby, we decided on Premier Driveways and Landscapes. Work began the very next week (Luckily for us gardeners aren't so busy in January!)
The first job was to level the garden into two sections, top and bottom. We have quite a slope in our garden that we wanted separating into a patio area, a top grass section and a bottom area for the dog. We chose our outdoor tiles from Topps Tiles - Everscape in the colour Sandstone. You can find them here - https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/everscape/everscape#selection.size=59.5cm%20x%2059.5cm%20Square&selection.product_colour=Everscape%E2%84%A2%20Sandstone
After these were laid, the artificial grass was laid and it was time to order some furniture (and a hot tub!). We went for a set called Nova in brown from White Stores which you can find here - https://www.whitestores.co.uk/nova-compact-cambridge-casual-dining-rattan-corner-sofa-with-gas-firepit-table.html We loved that it had a fire pit to keep us warm on the cool summer evenings.
We added some large festoon lights from Festive lights (https://www.festive-lights.com/a60-festoon-lights-connect-go) and a gazebo over the hot tub from Qubox (https://www.qubox.co.uk/sliding-roof-gazebo-2-8x2-8m/) for over our Brooklyn hot tub which was purchased on sale from BlueWhaleSpa (https://www.bluewhalespa.com/product/brooklyn-hot-tub/) .
We are still awaiting delivery of some sun loungers for summer and will be heading to the garden centre when lockdown is over so we can start adding some colour!
Check out our 'Garden get ready with me' IGTV video over on our Instagram page!
Gem x