Case study · Landscaping

Split-Level Garden & Tiled Steps

We took over a garden that another contractor had started and could not finish, stripped everything back and started fresh, then built it out on two levels: wide tiled steps between raised planters, clad retaining walls, a lit water feature, a fire pit and lighting in the steps and walls.

Features

Tiled steps, planters, water feature, fire pit

Finishes

Grey paving, cladding and slab copings

Details

Step and wall lights, linear drain, lit spouts

We took this garden over after another contractor's attempt had failed. We stripped everything back, started fresh, and built it out as a garden on two levels.

A grey paved patio sits at the bottom. A wide flight of tiled steps, flanked by raised planters, leads up to a lawn terrace. Low retaining walls hold the change in level, faced in narrow strips of grey cladding and finished with flat slab copings that match the step treads.

Lights are set into the steps and walls, so the garden works after dark as well.

Taking over a failed start

Another contractor had started this garden and their attempt had failed. We took the job over, stripped everything back and started fresh.

When we came in, the garden was dug out, with part-built blockwork walls coated in black and pallets of paving stacked on site.

Dug-out garden with part-built blockwork walls coated in black, a dumper, pallets of paving slabs and a house with garages at the far end. — The garden as we took it over.

Walls, steps and planting

Starting from scratch, we built the retaining walls and planters, faced them in narrow strips of grey cladding and capped them with flat slab copings. The wide flight of steps went in between the planters, with treads to match the copings.

Planting went into the beds as the walls were finished, and the ground was levelled for the lawn and paving.

Clad retaining walls with slab copings along the back of the garden, planted up, with the ground in front levelled. — The back walls clad and planted.

Wide clad steps rising between raised planters with flowering plants, slab copings on the walls, the upper level still to be finished. — The steps and planters going in.

Long clad wall down the side of the garden with a planted bed and granite sett edging, a path being formed alongside. — The side wall and planting, with the path being formed.

The finished garden

The finished garden works on two levels, with the wide tiled steps between the planters leading up to the lawn terrace.

A water feature with three lit spouts is set into one of the walls, and a fire pit on the patio is clad to match.

Wide view of a two-level garden: grey paved patio, central tiled steps between raised planters, clad walls and a lawn terrace beyond. — The finished garden from the lower patio, looking up to the lawn terrace.

Wide flight of tiled steps with grey strip-clad risers rising to a lawn, flanked by clad walls with flat copings and two recessed lights. — Slab treads, clad risers and matching copings, with lights set into the side walls.

Side view along a planter coping and the steps towards the house, with a linear drain and a darker band running through the grey paving. — A linear drain runs along the foot of the steps. A darker band breaks up the paving.

Three lit water spouts in a grey clad retaining wall pour into a raised dark pool, with planters either side and steps to the right. — Water falls from three lit spouts into a raised pool built into the retaining wall.

Square fire pit clad in the same grey strip cladding with a dark slab top, on the patio beside a clad planter wall. — A fire pit on the patio, clad to match the walls.

After dark

Strip lights under the step treads wash light down each riser, and small lights set into the walls pick out the paths and paving.

At dusk, the wide clad steps up to the lawn lit by strip lights under each tread, seen from the patio. — The steps lit, from the patio.

Dusk view of the lit steps between planters, with the lawn and a garden room behind. — Light washes down each riser.

Dusk view of lit steps and a clad wall with small round wall lights, a white garage block behind. — Wall lights along the steps up to the garages.

Dusk view along lit clad walls and dark paving towards the house, the lawn beyond. — Lit walls and paving leading back to the house.

Dark paved path running beside a clad wall at dusk towards a lit garage. — The path along the side wall at dusk.

The result

Before & after

From a failed start to the finished garden

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