Areas We Cover

The Areas We Cover

We are a small, family-run firm based in Norfolk, and between us we have spent more than twenty years working on gardens right across the county and over the border into Suffolk. Ben and Ed do the work themselves, so when we talk about knowing an area we mean it in a practical way: what the ground is like once you dig into it, how a plot copes with wind and rain, and which materials and plants actually last in local conditions rather than just looking good on the day they go in. We cover the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk for domestic hard and soft landscaping, and the notes below explain what that tends to mean in different parts of the region.

Norwich, south and central Norfolk

This is our core working area and where most of our week is spent. It takes in Norwich itself along with the market towns and villages that ring it, running south towards the Suffolk border and out into the countryside on either side. The properties are as varied as the area: Victorian and Edwardian terraces with long, narrow back gardens close to the city, older flint and brick village houses with mature plots, and the newer estates that have grown up around Norwich and the surrounding towns over the past couple of decades.

The soil here is the thing to understand. Much of central and south Norfolk sits on heavy clay, and clay changes how a job has to be done. It holds water in winter and dries hard and cracked in summer, so drainage has to be planned rather than assumed. For a patio or driveway that means a properly dug and compacted sub-base with the right depth of stone, because laying straight onto clay is how you end up with movement, ponding and lifted slabs a couple of winters later. For lawns and borders it means we often need to break up and improve the ground, add grit or organic matter, and choose planting that will tolerate wet feet in winter without sulking. Plenty of shrubs and perennials cope with clay perfectly well once you know which ones to reach for, and getting that right at the start saves replacing plants that were never going to thrive. New-build gardens bring their own version of this, where the topsoil is often thin and the subsoil compacted by the build, and those usually need proper preparation before turf or planting will do anything worthwhile.

North Norfolk and the coast

We regularly work up through North Norfolk and along the coast, taking in Aylsham, North Walsham, Holt and Fakenham, and out to the coastal towns like Cromer, Sheringham and Wells-next-the-Sea. It is a genuinely different set of conditions to the clay country further south, and it pays to treat it that way.

The main factor near the coast is exposure. Salt-laden wind coming in off the sea is hard on plants and hard on materials, and an exposed plot a few fields back from the coast can catch nearly as much of it as one on the front. For planting we lean on tougher, salt-tolerant and wind-firm species, and we think carefully about shelter and hedging so that a garden has a fighting chance of establishing. For fencing on an exposed site we would usually recommend closeboard fencing on concrete posts and gravel boards rather than lightweight lap panels, because panels are the first thing to go in a strong onshore blow, whereas a well-built closeboard run set in concrete will stand. Soils nearer the coast are often lighter, sandier and more free-draining than the inland clay, which is easier to work but dries out quickly, so we plan watering and soil improvement accordingly. There are also a lot of established, mature gardens in this part of the county, and a good share of our North Norfolk work is renovation: reworking tired patios, lifting and relaying paving, clearing and replanting overgrown borders, and bringing a garden that has had years of good bones back to life rather than starting from scratch.

The Broads and Broadland

Around the Broads, through villages near Wroxham and Stalham and the low-lying land of Broadland, water is the constant consideration. Many plots here sit close to a river, dyke or broad, and the water table can be high, which means ground that stays damp for much of the year. That is not a problem to landscape around, but it does have to be respected.

On waterside and riverside plots we pay close attention to drainage and to how and where surface water is going to move, so that a new patio or path is not sitting in standing water each winter. Sub-bases and levels have to account for ground that never really dries out. On the planting side, damp ground is an opportunity as much as a constraint: there are some lovely plants that thrive in moist soil and look completely at home in a waterside setting, and choosing those rather than fighting the conditions gives a garden that settles in and looks right. Where a lawn is wanted on heavier, wetter ground, we will be honest about what it will take to keep it in good order.

The Suffolk border and North Suffolk

Our coverage does not stop at the county line. We work across the Suffolk border and through North Suffolk, taking in Diss and Harleston, Bungay, Beccles, Halesworth and Eye. These are characterful market towns with plenty of older, established properties, and the countryside around them is full of rural homes and cottages with mature gardens that reward proper care.

Much of what we do here is similar in spirit to our North Norfolk renovation work: reworking and modernising gardens that have good structure but need bringing up to date, laying new patios and paths that suit the age of the house, and restoring borders and lawns. Older and rural properties often throw up their own quirks, from awkward access for materials to walls and boundaries that need thinking about, and that is exactly the sort of job where doing the work ourselves matters, because we can adapt as we go rather than working to a rigid template.

Why local knowledge makes a difference

Knowing the region genuinely changes the decisions we make. The right patio build-up on North Norfolk sand is not the right build-up on Norwich clay. A fence spec that is fine in a sheltered city garden is the wrong choice on an exposed coastal plot. Planting that shrugs off a damp Broadland winter might struggle on a dry, free-draining bank, and the other way round. None of this is guesswork for us, because we have worked these soils and these conditions for years and seen what holds up over time.

Norfolk and Suffolk winters are worth a mention too. We do get hard frosts, and that feeds into material choice: for paving we favour properly frost-rated porcelain and natural stone that will not spall or flake after a cold snap, and we time work like turfing for when it has the best chance to take, which generally means the milder, moist stretches of spring and autumn rather than the middle of a dry summer or a frozen winter. These are small decisions on their own, but together they are the difference between a garden that still looks good in ten years and one that needs putting right in three.

We are based in Norfolk and happy to travel across both counties for the right job, and the areas above are a guide rather than a hard boundary. If you are somewhere we have not mentioned and you are not sure whether you are within reach, just get in touch and ask. We would far rather have a straightforward conversation about your garden and whether we are the right people for it than leave you guessing.