Thank you for your comments, they have allayed my fears a little. Definetely going to change the steps and make new steps shallower and wider and put in another tier. Hubby wants water somewhere and we both agree on losing the grass.....so much to plan. Lol.
What an amazing opportunity :-). Your kind neighbour has even provided you with a 4m privacy screen.
That's crying out for a deep pond and a plank at the upper level so you can be like Bluebeard the Pirate with anyone who misbehaves.
More seriously, I think I would suggest:
1 - Things at the bottom level that cannot be fully seen from the top level. So when someone's walked down your steps they are rewarded with something hidden from above that anyone who doesn't go down will never get to see.
I'm thinking of a scented seat or gazebo at the far end, or to walk through a pergola that they can only see the top of from the top.
It needs to be your garden, not an outside basement with a basement flight of steps as at present.
2 - Can you put anything in that you will appreciate from the top? I am thinking of a vigorous traditional buddleia so that by August you have a cloud of butterflies at deckchair level.
For more general inspiration, there was one of the TV 'transform your house' TV programmes with an episode with a similar setup - cannot remember which one. They put an extended terrace at the upper level on one side. You have some scope for that but overlooking neighbours would be a concern.
But my top suggestion for inspiration is to go and visit some of the "Pocket Parks" in the City of London, which range from the size of a front room to the size of a garden up to half an acre. Many are built on bombsites, or in churchyards of lost Wren churches, or by extant City Livery Halls. Plus places such as the Barbican. There are more than a hundred of them, a lot coordinated between 1950 and 1980 by a chap called Fred Cleary.
There are more than 100 - fantastic and varied use of context, history and landscape in very small spaces. I worked / lived in the City for a time and visited them all and all the Wren Churches. Because of the place you come across all kinds of bits and pieces eg an Epstein in the arcade garden of one Wren Church.
You can get guided tours or a leaflet from the City Information Centre.
Tours are *currently* running, but I reckon they will be stopped soon for lockdown.
If you like I can mention half a dozen favourites. The Cleary Garden on Huggin Hill is one, where they have 3 levels in a space smaller than my smallish garden plot.
A pergola on the lower level planted with something like taller clematis that tend to flower on top would be good. Normally it's hard to see most of the flowers, but you'd be able to see them from your upper terrace.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Posts
That's crying out for a deep pond and a plank at the upper level so you can be like Bluebeard the Pirate with anyone who misbehaves.
More seriously, I think I would suggest:
1 - Things at the bottom level that cannot be fully seen from the top level. So when someone's walked down your steps they are rewarded with something hidden from above that anyone who doesn't go down will never get to see.
I'm thinking of a scented seat or gazebo at the far end, or to walk through a pergola that they can only see the top of from the top.
It needs to be your garden, not an outside basement with a basement flight of steps as at present.
2 - Can you put anything in that you will appreciate from the top? I am thinking of a vigorous traditional buddleia so that by August you have a cloud of butterflies at deckchair level.
For more general inspiration, there was one of the TV 'transform your house' TV programmes with an episode with a similar setup - cannot remember which one. They put an extended terrace at the upper level on one side. You have some scope for that but overlooking neighbours would be a concern.
But my top suggestion for inspiration is to go and visit some of the "Pocket Parks" in the City of London, which range from the size of a front room to the size of a garden up to half an acre. Many are built on bombsites, or in churchyards of lost Wren churches, or by extant City Livery Halls. Plus places such as the Barbican. There are more than a hundred of them, a lot coordinated between 1950 and 1980 by a chap called Fred Cleary.
There are more than 100 - fantastic and varied use of context, history and landscape in very small spaces. I worked / lived in the City for a time and visited them all and all the Wren Churches. Because of the place you come across all kinds of bits and pieces eg an Epstein in the arcade garden of one Wren Church.
You can get guided tours or a leaflet from the City Information Centre.
Tours are *currently* running, but I reckon they will be stopped soon for lockdown.
If you like I can mention half a dozen favourites. The Cleary Garden on Huggin Hill is one, where they have 3 levels in a space smaller than my smallish garden plot.
Links:
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/city-information-centre
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/category/londons-pocket-parks/
http://www.citygardenwalks.com/walks.html
https://londongardenstrust.org/
Ferdinand