Garden Design & Landscaping in Petersham

The building stock includes Georgian and earlier houses, cottages along Petersham Road and the lanes, and larger properties with mature grounds between the road and the meadows. Many are listed, and the whole area sits within a highly sensitive conservation and landscape setting, with the protected view from Richmond Hill nearby.

Gardens tend to be enclosed by old brick walls — often lime-mortared, sometimes leaning, frequently in need of sympathetic repointing or rebuilding — with substantial trees inside or immediately over the boundary. Yews, cedars, limes and hollies are common, and preservation orders are the norm rather than the exception.

Ground conditions vary from free-draining higher up towards the Park to damp, alluvial soil closer to the meadows and the river, where the water table is high and flooding of the low-lying land is part of the local pattern. Deer from the Park are a genuine consideration for planting near the boundary.

The right approach in Petersham is usually quiet and traditional: gravel and stone rather than large-format modern paving, brick and timber detailed to suit old buildings, generous hedging and topiary, and planting that reads as though it has always been there. A garden here should sit into the landscape, not announce itself.

Long views towards the meadows and the river are worth designing around. Keeping a boundary low or hedged where the view is good, and screening only where it is needed, gives a garden borrowed depth that no amount of construction can buy.

Where the soil is damp near the meadows, meadow-style planting, moisture-tolerant trees and mown paths through longer grass can be both beautiful and appropriate; higher up, drier planting with hedging structure suits better. Wildlife-friendly, low-intervention planting fits the setting and our own environmental approach.

Old walls are the biggest single asset in a Petersham garden. Repointing them correctly with a soft, lime-based mortar, restoring copings and training fruit or climbers against them will do more for the garden than any new structure — and any new structure will very likely need consent.

Access along the lanes is narrow and the sites are sensitive, so we plan deliveries, protection and spoil removal carefully and keep the working area tight and tidy.

Our teams carry out brickwork repair, repointing and rebuilding of garden walls, excavation and structural work, drainage suited to a high water table, paving and gravel surfaces, steps and pathways, and joinery and metalwork — gates, railings, screens and traditional fencing — detailed to suit historic buildings. Excavation near protected trees is planned to avoid root damage, and we advise where planning, listed building or tree consent applies.

Planting, hedging, tree planting, turfing or meadow establishment, irrigation and discreet lighting complete the work. Written quote for everything before we begin, and one company answerable for the result.

Over twenty years of London garden design and construction, including old walled gardens and mature, sensitive settings.

An in-house team with real brickwork, pointing, joinery and metalwork skills — essential where materials and detailing have to suit historic buildings.

Written quotes, careful working on narrow lanes and sensitive sites, a strict environmental policy, and the quality of workmanship and personal service we are known for.