Outline Plan process - emmacrowgardendesign

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Outline Plan process

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An Outline Plan is a detailed scale plan of a garden’s framework indicating hard landscaped areas, including construction drawings if required. It also shows areas to be planted such as trees, beds and lawns. Specific plant details (variety, numbers and position) are shown on a separate plan (see Planting Plan). Instances where you may need an outline plan might include the incorporatation of a new feature into your garden, such as a pond or a new border, or you may wish to reorganise the whole garden.

An Outline Plan involves the following steps:

Initial visit
This is a chance for us to meet and discuss your project - your ideas, tastes and expectations from the new design. An assessment of the site (measuring and recording information which will affect the design) may be conducted at this point. Information gathered from this meeting will be used to draw together a basic outline plan.

A second meeting provides the opportunity to discuss together the sketches and drawings which show the layout and style of your future garden. This basic outline plan may be all you need, or you may wish to commission the drawing of a more formalised outline plan, particularly if you have contractors who will be doing the construction work.

Visits are charged at an hourly rate and planning work is priced individually.

EXAMPLES - click on the thumbnails

A small town garden which loses the sun from the area immediately outside the back door at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon and which is heavily overlooked by three-storey houses at the end of the garden. The brief was to surmount these problems! Two seating areas have been created - a terrace nearest the door provides adequate space for sitting around a table whilst a lower terrace allows relaxation in the late afternoon sun. Emphasis is placed on vertical height with a series of tall metal arches over the path and rope swags supported by posts. This helps to make this small garden appear larger as well as providing a screen from neighbours. The use of plants which have a columnar form serves a similar purpose (see Planting Plan gallery).

This is a small front garden which was originally an uninviting slope with the soil level well above the cast iron air vents in the wall of the house. A cobbled courtyard was laid, lowering the soil level and along with a stone retaining wall, providing a pleasing view from the sitting room window. Provision had to be made for rain water which runs down the front path and into the courtyard and so a large soak-away filled with gravel was incorporated under the cobbling. The cobbled theme is continued down the sides of the slate-paved path.