Sloped Gardens in Parkstone: Taming the Hills Read
Parkstone is steep. Broadstone is hilly. A sloped garden is useless space. Here is how we dig it out, retain it, and make it flat.
The Parkstone Problem
If you live in Parkstone, Ashley Cross, or Broadstone, you know the geography.
It is not flat.
We see gardens with 45-degree slopes. They are impossible to mow. You can't put a table and chairs out. The kids can't play football.
It is dead space.
Homeowners call us thinking they are stuck with it. They aren't.
We fix slopes. We turn "hills" into "rooms."
The Solution: Cut and Fill
To get a flat garden, you have to move earth.
We call it "terracing."
We bring in the mini-diggers. We cut into the slope. We move the soil from the high bits to the low bits.
Suddenly, you don't have one big slide. You have three flat levels.
Level 1: A patio near the house.
Level 2: A flat lawn for the kids.
Level 3: A deck at the top for the sunset view.
But to hold that earth back, you need engineering.
Retaining Walls
You cannot just dig a hole and leave it. The earth will slide back down.
You need retaining walls. Strong ones.
We use three main types in Poole.
1. Railway Sleepers This is the most common choice. It looks rustic. It softens the landscape. We use treated softwood or hardwood sleepers. They are great for walls up to 1 metre high.
2. Gabion Baskets You see these on highways. They are wire cages filled with rocks. We love them. They look architectural. They also solve a big problem: Drainage. Water flows right through the rocks. The wall never builds up pressure.
3. Concrete Block & Render This is the "Sandbanks" look. We build a strong concrete block wall. We render it smooth and paint it white (or grey). It looks crisp. It looks modern.
The Drainage Trap
This is where DIY jobs fail.
Water runs downhill. When you build a wall across a slope, you are building a dam.
If you don't install drainage, the water builds up behind the wall. Eventually, the wall cracks. Or it collapses.
We install "weep holes" and perforated drainage pipes behind every wall we build. The water needs an escape route.
The Result
Terracing a garden is a big job. It creates a lot of spoil (soil) to cart away.
But it transforms the house.
You go from looking at a grassy hill to having an outdoor living room. You gain square footage you didn't know you had.
Don't Let the Hill Win
If you have a useless slope in Parkstone, let’s dig it out.
We have the excavators. We have the engineers.
Stop by the office at 17 Tweedale Road, Bournemouth, or call 07835 390845.
