The homeowners at Doval Gardens in Staffordshire recently visited our office in Stoke-on-Trent with a simple brief: they wanted to transform their garden into a space that felt more usable, more enjoyable, and less like an underutilised stretch of lawn.

At the moment, the garden is largely open grass with a steep banked slope at the rear that doesn’t really get used. Like many sloped gardens, it presents a challenge in how the space flows, safety issues, and how much of it can actually be enjoyed day to day.

Our design team has since been working through early concept designs and visualisations to help reimagine the space and show what it could become with a more considered layout.

The approach is about working with the levels rather than against them, introducing a clearer structure so the garden feels easier to move through and more purposeful overall. A key part of this is creating a dedicated outdoor dining area, giving the homeowners a defined space for entertaining and spending time outside.

The existing summer house is being retained as an important focal point within the garden, helping to anchor the design. Around this, new planting is being introduced throughout to soften the space, add seasonal interest, and improve privacy, while also helping to break up the different areas more naturally.

One of the smaller but more thoughtful details in the design is the use of darker paving sets between lighter slabs. This keeps the stepping-stone feel visually, but removes the ongoing maintenance issue of mowing between individual sections – a simple change that improves practicality without losing character.

Overall, the aim isn’t to overcomplicate the garden, but to turn a difficult, underused space into something that feels natural, balanced, and genuinely enjoyable to spend time in.

We’re due to start on site in the next couple of weeks, with timing currently being coordinated around the client’s holiday. The idea of them returning to a fully transformed garden is definitely tempting, we’ve done this before on projects such as Coriander Cottage, where clients came back from holiday to a completed renovation, and it’s always a great moment!

Doval Gardens is shaping up to become a real hidden oasis, and we’re really looking forward to bringing it to life.

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