plans for landscaping around a cottage

rambojon

hi everyone, a friend and I have recently renovated an old cottage and are now looking to landscape the outside area.. we have no hard and fast rules.. I was thinking of using some paving for borders and some loose stones on the driveways..but really don't know where to begin... and obviously are looking to keep the budget as small as possible while still looking good once finished.. any ideas would be a great help... regards rambojon.

rje66

rambojon wrote: »

hi everyone, a friend and I have recently renovated an old cottage and are now looking to landscape the outside area.. we have no hard and fast rules.. I was thinking of using some paving for borders and some loose stones on the driveways..but really don't know where to begin... and obviously are looking to keep the budget as small as possible while still looking good once finished.. any ideas would be a great help... regards

rambojon.

A pic would be great.
A cottage to some is a bungalow to others!!!!.

redser7

Google images is a good place to start. Try get an idea of what plants and materials please you. Also think about how involved you want the maintenance to be. Start there.

rambojon

ill try an get an image soon guys.. its more the groundwork than the planting to be honest.. as there is a hedge growing well from years ago..ive added another hedge already to give some privacy from the nearby road..
IM not gone on the idea of footpaths as I think theyre too modern looking for a cottage and wouldn't fit well.. also don't like the idea of tar-mac as again its too squeaky clean looking for my liking.. something along the lines of coloured stones and sleepers as borders someone mentioned to me.. wat ye think...

redser7

hmm it's still very vague rambo so hard to help you. Will you be living in it yourself? Do you like gardening or are you looking for something that's easy to maintain? Are you interested in annuals or perennials, a mixture of both? Trees? Fruit & Veg? How big is the area? What budget do you have? What is the soil and slope of the land like?

OilBeefHooked2

As redser mentioned already, it comes down to personal taste, put in what ever you like, if you're short on ideas, keep your eyes open and have a look around other peoples gardens when you are passing and also have a look at gardening magazines and see what takes your fancy.

knipex

rambojon wrote: »

ill try an get an image soon guys.. its more the groundwork than the planting to be honest.. as there is a hedge growing well from years ago..ive added another hedge already to give some privacy from the nearby road..
IM not gone on the idea of footpaths as I think theyre too modern looking for a cottage and wouldn't fit well.. also don't like the idea of tar-mac as again its too squeaky clean looking for my liking.. something along the lines of coloured stones and sleepers as borders someone mentioned to me.. wat ye think...

Is this someplace you plan on living in yourself ?
Is long term care and maintainance an issue ?

Gravel drives look lovely. I am a huge fan in rural locations, even in more modern homes. I agree that tarmac looks out of place in a rural location especially with older homes. However unless it done correctly with a suspension or retaining grid it needs constant maintenance. Especially if its an area where cars will be turning. However the retaining grid is expensive and if you want to do a proper base its even more expensive. If you plan on living here then I woudl advise that you use a retaining grid but if its just going to be a holiday home or if you are planning on just flipping it then loose gravel is probably fine.

I personally thing sleepers can look great but depending on location and what they are used for they can again require maintenance for moss etc. An alternative is a low stone border with perhaps a sloping flower or shrub bed. I also like cobble stone. Both can be expensive (depending on how much work you can do yourself) and will require alot of work (concrete base, correct sub base etc) but longer term they will look better and require less on going maintenance.

I recently put in a 18" stone wall to create a raised bed, worked out less than the cost of sleepers but I did all the work myself and bought the stone and some 3/4 down from a guy who had some left over after building a wall. I got the stone for €50 as long as I collected it, got some bagged sand and a couple of bags of cement from from B&Q. Total cost was about €100. BUT it took me 3 and a half days to do. (dig foundation, pour foundation, dress and lay stone..)

It all depends on what the long term plan is, the layout, how much work you are willing to do, how much you can spend, what materials you have lieing about (I made a lawn border from a load of 7' window sills I bought for a song on done deal, grass grows over the sloped edge but allows me to put the wheel of the lawnmower on the edge to get a clean cut and the step gives a defined break. actually worked out nicely).. and what it will be used for.

Footpaths can look naff but use some colored die and mix in some paving and it can look great... Tar and chip can also be a nice finish around a cottage but long term its a disaster in smaller areas where cars turn around..

Need more info..

rambojon

redser7 wrote: »

hmm it's still very vague rambo so hard to help you. Will you be living in it yourself? Do you like gardening or are you looking for something that's easy to maintain? Are you interested in annuals or perennials, a mixture of both? Trees? Fruit & Veg? How big is the area? What budget do you have? What is the soil and slope of the land like?

thanks for interest guys..ill try an help with some more info a bit.. here goes..
I wont be living in it myself.. its prob for rental for a bit and maybe offload it when things improve a bit..Def looking for easy maintenance that looks good on kerb appeal.. ive recently sourced some local stone for a nearby farmer who is letting me clear away an old delerect shed.. so might build a few low stone walls ..like hedging myself looks well giving shelter and privacy..like some tree types but only 1 mile from coast so not everything works that well.. area is half acre roughly mostly 360 around house . small bits of lawn front back and both sides.. budget is okish will spend a wee bit more if I feel it would increase value and kerb appeal abit.. ive also sourced some good quality top soil.. slope is fine .. dropping down a bit to back of site a bit..

Skylined

Sounds like an interesting project.

Very hard to give advice with out know the particular site and how much maintenance you want to do. Concrete or asphalt is minimal maintenance but too harsh looking, gravel is softer but you have some maintenance regards weeds and wear spots, with love and care its great to work with, but with heedless tenants it can be a mess within years. I get the sense you want to keep the cottage charm and blend in with surroundings, with kerb appeal.

I worked on a job for a lady earlier this year, she'd had renovated her cottage and needed to landscape it as the builders had left a mess behind them, to give an idea of the site its was roughly just over an acre, steep 11m height from front to back, 150m along road front, triangle shaped 80m deep on left and 20m deep on right, with the cottage in middle left.

She engaged an very experienced digger man turned builder, I belief her budget with tight (5-8k?) she knew what she wanted and was very involved in it, he pulled back the hill level from back of the cottage and cleared everything else. He made a gravel drive with pencil curbs (7x1's *cheap) and continued paths around the house with these. Through these paths there were cheap moulded concrete flags as stepping stones, a decent sized patio with these at the back, then a concrete block retaining wall to where the big bank is to the back, plastered in rough cast to match the cottage, steps up to a gravel path on top of this (with a wide board fixed in the middle of this, which I learned was so that the lady could walk comfortably in bare feet to tend to shrub bed that she's going to plant in the big topsoiled bank he'd left. To the smaller end of the site a smooth area was created for a clover rich lawn, also an orchard and wild flower meadow. Most of the hedging here was beech, with wood chip mulch. This might help you for ideas or inspiration.

Before I start to give you my suggestions / tastes in planting, it is just that, that's down to your taste, but a good starting point is check out what's growing well locally, there are many different interesting plants that will grow well with a moderately exposed sea breeze like you have, with screening and good choice, anything is possible. My opinion would be stay native with most of the site, considering wildlife, etc, then do something different closer to the living areas. For around the cottage and doors, perhaps perennial flowers (lots of good books on cottage flowers out there for guidance) off the patio / living / working area, I'd try screening with hedging, portugese laurel is a good runner for your location, yew is also a native and makes great hedges. Try perhaps a an area of various grasses for interest. The possibilities are endless . . .

That's my piece, I hope it throws some light on it. I would however, if your going to rent it, and your not around, recommend that you ask a landscape gardener to keep an eye on it and see to any vital jobs needed to keep it fairly good order.

Good luck with it all!

Sonnenblumen

If you're ever at a gardening event featuring Gerry Daly, he tells a very entertaining but informative story why you should never ever allow Mr Mini-Digger man who was hired by builder to do site excavations etc and once the house has been built to be only 'doing his best to oblige property owner' by sorting out the garden area.

Not sure if you're familiar with 'Bungalow Blight' well there is a sequel and it is 'Garden Design by Mini-Digger Man' :eek:

monkeynuz

When you say 1 mile from Coast, which Coast?

Being 1 mile away shouldn't affect your choice of plants too much depending on elevation etc.

Oldtree

you'll be wanting one of these
http://www.amazon.com/Geoff-Hamiltons-Cottage-Gardens-Hamilton/dp/0563383488