Floral and Hardy featured in House Beautiful magazine

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  "We entertain and create a party atmosphere here"

  Kim Williams, 48, a finance manager, and her husband Huw, 50, a partner in a property company, live in a four-bedroom townhouse in Twickenham, Middlesex. 'Before we moved here two years ago, we'd been living in a flat which only had a balcony, so we were looking forward to having a garden. Even though the garden here was basically just a yard, with concrete paving, a shed and nothing else, big folding doors opened onto it from the house and were so lovely we wanted to create an outdoor space that felt like an outside room.

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  Getting the design right...

  ... was the most important thing, and having searched the internet, I found Floral and Hardy, which offers a complete garden design and construction service. When they came to see us, we were very impressed. They had so many ideas we'd never thought of, including a way to make the garden feel bigger and wider by using willow-clad fencing and a series of squares set at an angle to the house. They also suggested built-in seats with hidden storage space underneath so we wouldn't need a shed, and a stone obelisk with water bubbling up through the top, which takes up much less space than a pond.

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  The work...

  ... took about eight weeks. There was a huge amount to do, including digging out a concrete slab beneath the existing paving stones and bringing all the new soil in. Although the men did come through the house, they were very tidy, and it helped that they could also get access through the communal gardens at the back. We'd sometimes come home from work and think, "Oh no, what's that? Should it be there? Will it look like that when it's finished?" But once the work ended, there wasn't a single thing we would have changed.

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  We now have a garden with a real "wow" factor.

  It's given us this great space where we can entertain and create a party atmosphere. Huw recently celebrated his 50th birthday in the garden. We had the doors open, lots of cushions on the seating area, and it was perfect for people to relax in.
  'With lights in the beds, on the deck and around the seating, the garden is lovely as it starts to get dark. I never tire of looking out at it through the folding doors. In the winter, we don't have the doors open but with the lights on, the garden creates a beautiful backdrop to the room.
  'The house itself had been done up before we moved in, so we spent our whole makeover budget of £25,000 on the garden. We absolutely love it, and we're able to use what had once been a wasted space as a wonderful outdoor room'.

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  Stainless Steel planters add to the 'urban garden' feel

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  The living room, with its huge folding doors, opens onto the new garden, making the inside and outside feel like one big space

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  The removable triangular awning is a clever way to shade the eating and seating areas

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  Lush green plants break up the expanse of stone and wood, and make up for the lack of a lawn

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  Make your garden work for you

  Use your space all year round with this advice from Paul Ellison of Floral and Hardy Garden Design UK:
  i) If you have a small garden and want to free up space, seating can be designed with underground storage for big pieces of gardening equipment, such as the mower. Just lift up the seat and it's easy to get to them.
  ii) Invest in good lighting. Even on a grey winter's afternoon, it will help the garden come alive.
  iii) Many families have a trampoline in their garden, but they spoil the look of the space. A smart solution is to sink them into the ground. Once the children have left home, you can fill the space back in or even turn it into a plunge pool or pond.