Relaxed vibes and easy-going plants bring BEACH HIGHS to Jo Rowse’s gravel garden glow-up in Essex
With a busy life, Jo Rowse finds little time for gardening despite her love of outdoor living.
So, when she approached designers Cube 1994 Ltd (cube1994.com) for help, a low-maintenance space was high on her wish list, as was her love of her coastal location. “I live close to the sea and wanted a garden that celebrated that,” she says.
Having moved into her late Victorian house in the Essex estuary town of Leigh-on-Sea 28 years ago, the garden had undergone plenty of changes over the years. “It had a crazy-paving patio and grass but that went years ago, replaced by a new patio, decking, planting and shingle, with a massive climbing frame in the middle to keep my two sons Zac and Jake entertained,” Jo recalls. “That went as the boys hit their teens, leaving the garden feeling like there was just an empty space in the middle.”
With Jo’s two grown-up sons having flown the nest, the time was right for a garden redesign. “The decking and shed needed replacing anyway, and I’d had some old bamboo removed, so the garden looked empty and dilapidated,” she adds. “I work full-time and am often out on the water, rowing, at weekends, so although I wanted a garden full of plants, it needed to be easy to look after. Getting a designer in seemed the best way to make sure all those boxes got ticked.”
BEFORE
AFTER
MY GARDEN PLAN
LOCATION Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
LOOK Med coast
SITE Size 60m2 Faces South
Soil Clay
MY BUDGET
Clearance £8,000 Hard landscaping £ 20,000 Fencing £ 3,000 Shed £1,200 Water feature £2,000 Lighting £6,000 Planting £5,000 TOTAL: £45,200
HOW LONG IT TOOK
Clearance & excavations 1 week Hard landscaping 31 /2 weeks Fencing & climbers 2 weeks Installing water feature 2 days Installing shed 1 day Lighting 2 days Planting 1 week
TOTAL: 8 WEEKS
A-MAZING! The Amalfi range of lounge furniture from Maze Living (mazeliving.co.uk) is effortless to move and keep clean.
THE JOURNEY up the gravel path is a celebration of all things coastal.
MAKING WAVES
Jo had high hopes for her 60m 2 garden, which is long and narrow like many terraced plots. “I wanted an eating and seating space and storage for bikes and paddleboards,” she says. “I also wanted to maintain privacy as much as possible, p
