Gardening.qxp_Layout 2 25/06/2021 15:15 Page 1
GARDENING
A front garden Elly designed in Redland
Making an entrance
A well-designed, well-kept front garden increases a property’s saleability, and creates important wildlife corridors, says Elly West
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his morning I visited a client whose front garden I designed last year. It’s really starting to come into its own now, with areas of meadow, gravel, plenty of plants, a few trees and space for a car, plus a beautiful round pond just outside the front door. It’s not a huge space, but works effectively and while it’s slightly unusual to have a pond in a front garden, chatting to my client made me rethink how important front gardens are. It may sound obvious but our front gardens provide the first impression of our home. They welcome visitors and are seen and walked through every single time we enter and leave the front door. They also provide a view when we look out of our ground-floor windows to see what’s going on in the world outside. As my client commented, if the pond had been in their back garden, they probably wouldn’t look at it half as often as they do – it’s visible each time they go anywhere and with young children in the house, it’s somewhere to stop and investigate every day after school, to spot dragonflies and (in early June when I was there) a multitude of wriggling, fat tadpoles in the shallows. A well-designed and well-kept front garden can increase a property’s saleability, with buyers judging a house by what the frontage looks like before they’ve even stepped inside. In this case, first impressions definitely count. “A nice front garden makes a massive difference,” explains assistant manager Scott Higgins, at Debbie Fortune Estate Agents. “People often do drive-bys before they book a viewing and if the garden looks welcoming and looked after, it indicates a happy, friendly home.” Although reluctant to put a percentage figure on the difference to property value, he adds, “The difference between a messy 72 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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JULY 2021
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No 200
front garden and a nice one could add £10,000 or more, depending on the property. I’m always very honest and will tell clients to sort out the front garden if necessary, and add some colour. Palms are very popular, and acers as they make a statement and attract someone’s eye.”
If the pond had been in their back garden, they probably wouldn’t look at it half as often as they do
While there’s no doubt that off-street parking is highly desirable in estate agents’ and buyers’ eyes, ramping up the asking price, it doesn’t have to take over the whole space, or be installed to the detriment of wildlife. Front gardens make important habitats and wildlife corridors for bees, butterflies and other small beneficial creatures, so even if you don’t have much room, try to include some large planted container displays or even just a window box or two. Separate Mori polls commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2005 and 2015 revealed that three times as many front gardens had been paved over during that 10-year interval, causing problems with flash-flooding and water run-off, as well as loss of wildlife habitats. So if you are introducing somewhere to park your car, then consider options such as gravel or permeable bricks, and keep hard surfaces to a minimum. As well as benefitting wildlife, a container brimming with colourful
