Gardens aren’t just about lawn and leisure

Gardens, in my limited experience, are best appreciated by three sections of society: children, who regard them as adventure playgrounds and sports fields, dogs who do much the same, and retirees, who actually go to the trouble of creating and maintaining them.

Which shows how wrong I can be. A recent study by online estate agents Hatched.co.uk found that properties with gardens are worth, on average, 44 per cent more than properties without. Last year a similar study concluded that gardens only added 20 per cent in value, unless they faced south, in which case the premium was 37 per cent.

Gardens, it appears, are not just popular, but increasingly so. This is despite the fact that, like the houses they adjoin, their size is shrinking. In 1983 the average garden was 16.8 sqm. Today it’s just 14 sqm.

For most selfbuilders who aren’t keen horticulturalists, however, gardens tend to come relatively low on their list of priorities – largely because they’re usually created last when the budget is at its lowest, if not completely exhausted.

But that doesn’t mean work on a garden has to be postponed until the VAT reclaim arrives or simply left for the future. When you buy a plot, you are buying outside space as well, and it’s wise to consider the best use of both – for yourself and for any potential future buyer.

Here, then, are six, hopefully useful, pointers.

1: Orientation

Ideally, the garden should face south to maximise the sunlight it receives, and your enjoyment of it. North-facing gardens receive less light and tend to be damper as a result.

East-facing gardens catch the morning sun; west-facing, the afternoon and evening light.

2: Trees

Well-established trees add shade and character to a garden, but can be a problem in inconvenient positions – most seriously, close to the proposed house. Removing a tree, however, isn’t simply a matter of cutting it down. As the roots die, the water they would normally extract remains in the soil. Clay soils, in particular, can then swell causing heave, which can result in cracking or subsidence to nearby foundations.

The most common solutions are either to dig foundations to a depth well below the ground likely to be affected – which will add to costs – or build no closer to the tree than a distance equivalent to its height.

Some trees, however, are protected by Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) placed on them by local authorities. Normally they can only be felled if they are dead or dangerous, in which case a replacement has to be planted. One way round this is to have the tree’s removal included as part of your planning permission.

3: Soil

Site stripping and levelling then digging the foundations produces a huge volume of soil. Disposing of ‘muck away’, as it’s called, can be expensive. Landfill Tax – currently £2.70 per metric tonne – is paid on subsoil sent to licensed tips.

You can make considerable savings by using the subsoil to create the broad features of your landscaping, while retaining the topsoil in a spoil heap, which can be redistributed over the subsoil once the build is finished. Make sure, however, the spoil heap is under a metre high.

Otherwise the topsoil will become compacted and deoxygenated, like the subsoil beneath it, and nothing will grow in it.

4: Access

Rear gardens need access for a wide variety of heavy or bulky items, from lawnmowers to flat pack sheds. Most self builds are detached, allowing access on at least one side; a metre width is a good minimum.

If a narrow site forces you to build boundary to boundary, and you don’t want to haul garden equipment through the hall, one option is incorporate an integral garage. A corridor extending from it can provide the garden access and perhaps double up as a utility or boot room.

Best of all, find a plot with rear access from an adjoining road. Not only will access be straightforward for the present but you may well be able to turn part of it into a building plot when the garden becomes too much.

5: Build potential

Downsizing to a new build in your own garden and financing it by selling off the existing property is a highly cost-efficient move, and a factor worth bearing in mind when you chose your plot. But a garden can also be useful source of new accommodation if you have no intention of moving on.

Permitted development allows you to add a single or double-storey extension to your completed build without needing planning permission – as long as you meet certain conditions, such as not exceeding 50 per cent of the total area of land around the house. The same rule applies to outbuildings, which can include studios, home offices and granny annexes.

6: Energy source

Two metres below a garden the soil temperature stays at around 10C throughout the year. That warmth can be tapped by a ground source heat pump to provide heating and hot water for the home. It’s done by burying a loop of pipework through which low temperature fluid is pumped, extracting ground heat which is passed to the house through a heat exchanger.

The main drawback is the size of garden needed – up to 700 sqm of unshaded land, depending on the heat requirement. Where space is tight, a borehole can be drilled vertically instead, but is much more expensive, unless you already have drilling equipment on site – say for piled foundations.

Because the heat produced is relatively low temperature, you will also need a well-insulated home and either over-sized radiators or, ideally, underfloor heating. But for homes without mains gas it’s a good and cheaper alternative, and will also earn you regular payments under the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.

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