Garden design and landscaping in Cambridge
Considered designs for Cambridge gardens — period terraces, modern extensions, village family plots. Drawings, planting plans, and a build crew that knows how to read them. No subcontractors, no surprise specs.
The full scope.
Every job sits inside one of these. We'll tell you which on the quote, with the time we expect to spend, the kit we'll need, and where any tippings or supplies are coming from.
Concept design
Site survey, layout options, planting palette, mood and materials board. Usually 2–4 weeks.
from £1,500Detailed design + planting plan
Full plan to construction-ready drawings, schedule of materials, named planting plan with plant counts.
from £3,200Hard landscaping — patios & paving
Porcelain, sandstone, granite setts, reclaimed brick. We level, base, set, and point properly.
from £4,200Decking & timber structures
Hardwood and composite decking, raised beds, pergolas, garden rooms (within permitted development).
from £3,800Planting installation
Lifting old, conditioning soil, planting to plan with mulch and first watering. Replacement guarantee on whips and feathered specimens.
from £950Lighting & irrigation
Low-voltage exterior lighting, drip irrigation for borders and pots. Discreet, energy-light, gardener-friendly.
What a good Cambridge garden design considers
Cambridge gardens have particular challenges and particular gifts. Heavy chalky clay that drains slowly. East Anglian summers that are increasingly dry. Conservation areas that constrain what you can build. And — almost everywhere in the older parts of the city — historic neighbours whose own gardens form half your view. A design that ignores any of these tends to look out of place by year three.
How we work
- Site first, plan second. We never quote a design fee without seeing the garden. Slope, light, soil and view tell us things no brief can.
- Restraint over novelty. We design for the long view — 5, 10, 25 years in. Trends that read as bold today date hard. We'd rather a garden look quietly right than urgently fashionable.
- One plan, one team. The same studio that draws the design supervises the build. No translation losses between architect and contractor.
- Honest about budget. Most full Cambridge garden builds land between £18k and £80k. Smaller refreshes from £6k. We'll tell you in the first visit whether your numbers and your ambition fit together.
Materials we like, and where we get them
Porcelain (Marshalls Symphony, London Stone Smooth Limestone) for clean modern terraces. Reclaimed clay brick (Norfolk Reclaim, Wienerberger) for period properties. Yorkstone for the right Cambridge street scene. Western Red Cedar and oak for timber work. We source from named UK suppliers, never the cheapest concrete imitation.
Planting philosophy
Naturalistic, mostly British native or near-native, layered for year-round structure. We favour multi-stem trees over standards, mixed hedge over single-species, and ornamental grasses that hold the garden through winter. Where a client wants a more formal scheme — yew topiary, box parterres, espaliered fruit — we can do that too. The brief leads, not a style.
The standard,
without the markup.
We design what we can build
Every drawing leaves our studio knowing how the build crew will read it. No glossy plans that fall apart in costing.
Planting that grows in
Designs that look good year one and better year five. Right plant, right place, sourced from the right grower.
Cambridge soil reality
Heavy chalky clay needs serious soil prep. We do it before the planting, not by hoping for the best after.
One quote, one team
Design fee separated from build cost — no incentive to over-spec. Single point of accountability through to handover.
Honest starting points.
Real quotes need a real look. These are honest starting points for a typical Cambridge garden — we'll confirm in writing after a site visit, free.
Small-garden refresh: layout options, planting palette, materials direction. Build quoted separately.
Full design package: survey, concept, detailed drawings, planting plan, materials schedule, build quote.
Typical Cambridge family garden: design fee, hard landscaping, planting, lighting basics, irrigation prep. Sample only — every garden quoted to its own scope.
Four steps. No surprises.
- 01
First visit
An hour on site, walking through what you've got, what you want, and what your budget will buy. No fee, no obligation.
- 02
Design
Concept first, then detailed drawings. Two design reviews built in — we'd rather change a sketch than a paving slab.
- 03
Build
Our crew builds. Programme shared at the start, weekly photo updates, daily site clean-up. No tools left lying about.
- 04
Handover
Walk-through, plant list, watering schedule for year one, snagging review at 8 weeks. We keep your garden on the records for follow-on visits.
Honest answers, no hedging.
Design fees in Cambridge typically run £1,500 to £5,500 depending on garden size and scope. Concept-only designs for small gardens start around £1,500; full detailed designs with planting plans for a family-sized garden are £3,000–£4,500. The fee is separate from the build cost.
Both. Most clients come with a rough idea ('we want a low-maintenance modern garden with a place to sit'). We translate that into a brief together at the first visit, then propose two or three concept directions for you to choose between.
From first visit to construction-ready drawings: 4–8 weeks. Then build time depends on the scope — a typical Cambridge family garden hard-and-soft build is 4–8 weeks on site.
Most garden work falls under permitted development. For larger structures (garden rooms over 2.5m, walls over 1m at the front), or work in conservation areas, we'll guide you through Cambridge City or South Cambs planning. We don't charge for the advice.
Yes — and often we recommend it. A mature tree is decades of value you can't buy. Our designs work with what's there before they replace it.
Yes. If the hard landscaping is fine and the garden just needs a planting refresh, we offer a planting-plan-only service from £950 plus plant cost.
Ready when you are.
Free quote within 4 working hours. Same-day visits for urgent jobs in Cambridge.