London Borough of Richmond upon Thames · SW14
Garden Design & Landscaping in Mortlake
Shoots & Leaves design, build and plant gardens in Mortlake. We are a landscape design and construction company with over twenty years of London experience, and we carry out every stage ourselves: design, excavation, drainage, brickwork, paving, steps, fencing and joinery, metalwork, lighting, irrigation and planting.
Mortlake sits on low ground beside the Thames between Chiswick Bridge and Barnes, and gardens here often have the same short list of problems: water that will not drain, tired fencing, and a plot that has never had its levels sorted out. Those are ground-up problems, which is why an in-house construction team matters more than a mood board.
We work across SW14 and quote in writing for all work after visiting.
Gardens in Mortlake
The area is mainly Victorian, Edwardian and interwar terraces and semis, with some post-war infill and newer development on the former brewery and riverside sites. Gardens are typically modest rectangles, fenced rather than walled, with side access on some of the semis and none on the terraces.
Being close to the river and low-lying, the ground can be damp with a high water table, and clay subsoil compounds it. The tell-tale signs are lawns that stay wet from November to March, green paving, and gravel boards rotting away — all fixable, but only with drainage and levels designed rather than guessed.
There are also mature street trees and railway boundaries in parts of SW14, which bring shade, leaf litter and noise, and conservation area designation applies in places, affecting front boundaries and hard surfaces. Front gardens are under the same surface water rules as everywhere else if they are to be paved.
Garden Design for Mortlake Homes
The best Mortlake gardens are the practical ones done well. Get the water away, set a terrace at the right level with proper falls, build a boundary that will last fifteen years rather than five, then spend the remaining budget on planting and one good tree.
Because plots are modest, the layout should avoid slicing the garden lengthways. A generous terrace at the house, a defined lawn or artificial grass panel, and deep planted borders on the boundaries make the space feel wider than a path down the middle ever will.
Fencing and screening deserve real thought here — gardens back onto other gardens, the railway or the towpath side, so a well-made close-board or slatted fence with proper posts, topped or backed by hedging, does more for the garden than any ornament.
For damp ground, planting can work with the conditions rather than against them: shrubs and perennials that tolerate moisture, and beds raised slightly where necessary. Where a family lawn is essential, we build it on drainage; where it will never cope, we say so.
More about how we work: garden design and landscaping & construction.
Landscaping & Garden Construction
Groundworks lead. We excavate, remove spoil, install land drainage, slot drains or soakaways as the ground allows, and set out levels so water always moves away from the house.
Our teams then build the hard landscaping — paving, pathways, brickwork, low retaining walls, steps and raised beds — followed by fencing with concrete or well-detailed posts, gates, pergolas, bin and bike stores and bespoke joinery.
Turf or artificial grass, soil improvement, planting, irrigation and garden lighting complete the work, with cabling and pipework laid while the ground is open. Written quote before we start, clear updates while we work, tidy site throughout.
Why Choose Shoots & Leaves
Twenty-plus years of London garden design and construction, with a base in West London a short drive from SW14.
One in-house team for design, drainage, groundworks, hard landscaping, joinery, lighting, irrigation and planting.
Written quotes for all work, prompt starts, honest advice about low-lying, wet ground, and the quality of workmanship and personal service we are known for.
Our Work
The clearest way to judge a landscaper is to look at what they build. Our portfolio shows completed gardens across London — the paving, brickwork, steps, joinery and planting we would bring to a garden in Mortlake — with the design thinking behind each one.
We would rather show you our work than list projects we cannot verify, so nothing here is presented as a local case study unless it genuinely is one.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is a waterlogged Mortlake lawn worth trying to save?
- Often yes, but not by re-turfing alone. It needs the cause dealt with — compaction, levels, drainage and outfall — and then either a properly built lawn or artificial grass in the wettest, most used area.
- How long should a new fence last?
- Far longer than most replacements do, if the posts and ground detailing are right. On damp SW14 ground the base detail is what determines whether a fence lasts five years or fifteen.
- Can you work without side access?
- Yes. On the terraces we protect a route through the house and stage deliveries and muck away so the disruptive phase is short.
- Do you plant as well as build?
- Yes — planting, turfing and irrigation are in-house, and they go in after the soil has been prepared properly rather than into builders' backfill.
Book a Garden Consultation
Tell us about your Mortlake garden and we will come and see it, talk through what is possible and follow up with a written quote for all of the work. Design, construction and planting are all carried out by our own teams, so you deal with one company from the first visit to the last plant.