The clients, a young couple, wanted the rear garden of their home to be a child friendly and safe space for their baby twins as well as a sociable space for them to hang out with friends and relax in. They did not think that they had a lot of time to maintain much planting.

It is fair to say that the existing garden was in a poor state and in need of an intervention. It was a long, narrow and overgrown space with shaky panel fencing boundaries and distressed decking platform to the rear.

Elaine worked with a former colleague, Stuart Taylor, to develop the design. The plan was to break the long space up into two angular lawned spaces, using a simple palette of hard materials of herringbone brick pattern for a connecting , slightly offset path. This was punctuated with oak sleeper raised beds planted with low maintenance planting. The existing fence was cleaned and strengthened and the garden was finished off by repairing the raised deck. There was plenty of green space for the babies to play in, people to socialise and washing to be hung.