Family House

Together Outside.

This family home in Kent needed a complete garden makeover.  The house has recently been refurbished, and my clients wanted the garden to reflect the new style of their interiors.

I worked closely with Interior Designer George Cougias (www.interiordesigngeek.com) to develop the design, picking up on materiality, colour palette and vintage finishes.

The Brief

Turn a tired patch of lawn into a welcoming garden for everyday family life and relaxed entertaining. Bring colour to an otherwise drab space and create new areas for growing plants & herbs, dining, relaxing and a specific place for the hot tub.

The Garden

The geometric design creates a contemporary courtyard with classic proportions. This utterly English garden has an informal planting scheme which sits comfortably alongside natural stone paving, brick clay pavers, Cotswold gravel, reclaimed Oak sleepers and Corten Steel detailing.

Developing the concept | Space planning

Exploring the space and maximising its potential with hand drawn sketches, mood boards and reference images.

Design development | Layouts

Scaled layouts showing hard landscaping materials & planting locations. A detailed planting plan will come later.

Preparing for build | Technical specifications

Technical pack to support tendering process and guide construction | Key measurements, Lighting & Electrical

Design Details

  • Pavers.

  • Stone.

  • Lights.

  • Lights.

  • Lights.

  • Lights.

  • Bespoke Pergola

  • Clay Pavers

  • Sawn Sandstone paving

  • Dining terrace

  • Bespoke gate.

Planting design

A low maintenance planting plan with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials & Grasses.

Includes detailed schedule & specimen list.

The Build

  • Clearance.

  • Clearance.

  • Demolition.

  • Tree care.

  • Preparation.

  • New beds

  • New paving

  • Hard landscaping.

  • Hard landscaping.

  • Details.

  • Planting

  • Gravel Garden

  • Plant delivery

Built.

Hard landscaping and pre-winter planting for this garden was completed in October 2025.

Further planting will be undertaken in Spring.

 

“Our back garden was a real challenge and not somewhere we enjoyed spending any time. Mark completely reimagined the space, pushing us gently to trust the design process, and the results are incredible!

The garden now has structure, texture and a real sense of calm, with beautiful planting that will only get better over time. It’s been brilliant to see the design come to life, and we’re already working with Mark again on our front garden. We couldn’t have asked for a better result.”

— Client Feedback

Project credits

Design & Project Management | Mark Hardy Design

Landscaping Contractor | Hythe Garden Landscapes

Planting Design | Mark Hardy

Electrics | ME Electrical

Plant Supply | Provender Nurseries

Tree Supply | Meadow Grange Nurseries

Paving | London Stone

Pergola | Round Wood of Mayfield

Corten gate | Paddock Fencing

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