When Kelly moved in to her house, the garden was characterless and bare. She wanted an easy-to-care-for garden she could enjoy all year round, so she set about transforming her unloved plot.
On a warm summer’s evening, Kelly Millis and her partner Trevor love to sit around the table on their patio, eating tapas and enjoying a gin and tonic or two with friends at their home in Upwell, Norfolk. With soft uplighting, flickering lanterns, and shadows cast by the pots of neatly clipped box and small olive trees the space is atmospheric yet deceptively easy to keep. “Being in my garden is my switch off time” says Kelly, a commercial director. “That’s why I created an orderly, structured space that can be easily managed yet is also pretty to look at. I can cut my grass in ten minutes, and make everything neat and tidy in an hour and a half. I want to be sitting out there enjoying my garden, not slaving away during my precious time off!”
Here's her garden plan...
LOCATION
A modernised 1950s home in Norfolk. "The idea was to create a colourful, textured, low maintenance space with something interesting to see all year round." says Kelly.
THE LOOK
Modern but with lots of pretty features.
SITE AND SOIL
Size: 12 x 18m (40 x 60 ft)
Faces: North west
Soil: Silt top soil on clay sub base
MY BUDGET
Indian flagstone paving (already laid but 40 per cent was replaced and the rest was pressure cleaned) £260
Gravel to frame the workshop area £35
Bricks, footing material and labour for a new wall and edging £290
Plants and trees £2,800
Patio furniture with parasol and cushions £575
Pots: £260
Lawn: grass seed and feed £25
Fence preserve £120
TOTAL £4,365
HOW LONG IT TOOK
Laying new - and cleaning existing - paving slabs 6 hours
Replacing gravel 1 hour
Building new brick retainer wall and laying block edging 4 hours
Planting 35 hours
Painting the fence 6 hours
TOTAL 52 HOURS
Read the full story in the May issue of Modern Gardens Magazine.
