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This was a small landscaping project in Eastfields, Stokesley, North Yorkshire. Scott wanted a patio area to barbecue from and also a seperate patio area to dine alfreso with his family.

Both patio areas are constructed from  brown multi sandstone flags. These flags have are a slight textured surface to them and are in various brown, purple and mauve colour tones. The first thing to be done on this project was to remove the existing split faced path edgeways. Then we created a new curved path using gravel.

The patio for the barbecue area is a rectangular space with a curved edge of rustic cobbles. Curves are always more pleasing to the eye and create an illusion of more space.

Testimonial:

Hi Andy

The new patios look fantastic, we're really happy with them. We'd like you to come back and quote us for some more work we'd like doing later this year. Please thank your team on our behalf too. It's a great job!

Cheers,

Scott Godfrey. Stokesley, North Yorkshire.

Mr. Barbour, Ian, from Guisborough, Cleveland, Teesside wanted to update his tired, dated looking garden landscape. After a consultation with us, where we looked through various samples of patio stones and many different types of water features, Mr & Mrs Barbour decided to opt for Desert Sandstone for their patio area and a contemporary Granite Water Feature.

We also discussed and decided to construct a small wall and steps from split faced buff bricks and the desert sandstone. Plum coloured slate was chosen for around the water feature and coloured pebbles, these look great when wet and dry. We also decided to opt for some rustic cobbled edging around the water feature just to further enhance it and draw the eye to it from a distance.

The design of the patio was fairly straight forward. Ian had decided he wanted to keep the original cobble edging that had been round his existing patio. We laid the patio within this existing cobbled edge shape. We like to use various cuts and sizes of dessert sandstone within patios we construct. The differing sizes make the patio more attractive and interesting than using the same sizes over and over again. Dessert sand stone is a beautiful patio stone and lends itself well to being placed like this. This particular sand stone is yellow and peachy/pink tones. There are also fossils within the stone too, giving it an interesting and unusual appearance. Sandstone is a very pretty patio stone, has a smooth texture and a soft, pleasing appearance to the eye.
Testimonial:

Dear Andy & The lads,

Thank you so much for our new garden. The patio, wall, steps and water feature have made such a dramatic difference to our garden. We would recommend you and your lads to our friends any day. We were impressed with the speed you worked, your attention to detail and how helpful and caring you all were. Thanks again.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. & Mrs Barbour.
Guisborough, Cleveland, Teesside.

This landscaping project is a real favourite of ours.

We got a call from Alan and Jan asking us to give them some ideas about what they could do with their eye sore of a garden. It was a new build house in Norton, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland. Their existing rear garden which consisted of mainly mud and not much else.

They had a few paving stones along the back of the house, but wanted the whole area to be modern and useable, with turf, patios, raised beds for planting and some new close board fencing.

There's nothing like a blank canvas to fire up the imagination!

The landscape of the garden had a downward slope which made it ideal for a split level patio and because of the split level we were able to encorporate a long raised flower bed, at the end of which we put steps down to the lower level patio. Which would also be where the new turf would be laid for the lawn.

We carried out a brick match for the raised flower bed and then sat with Alan and Jan to make a choice for the paving stones. They went with Sunrise sandstone.

We then put in the wall foundations for the raised flower bed, then built the wall up to the height required and finished it off with a Sunrise sandstone coping stone. This now gave us our split level garden to design and landscape.

We then put a stretch of close board fencing along the left hand side of the property as a boundry partition.

The next step was to build up the bases for the lower patio and newly turfed lawn area and level them off, ready for paving stones and turf respectively. We then laid the lower patio and cut a long, sweeping arc out of the left hand side, almost in a horse shoe shape. This meant that the turf could be built in to the patio and give an oval shape to the lawn. We put a double cobbled edge around the turf just to give it a funky finish. We left a border at the other side of the turf and planted a Cox's Orange Pippin apple tree and a purple flowering lilac bush.

We then started on the top patio using the same Sunrise sandstone paving stones. This was a standard rectangular patio which was far more straight forward to lay than the lower patio. We decided to finished the patio edge against the wall off with a row of cobbles and a gravel strip using York Gold gravel.

The photos will give you a better idea of the work, so take a peek!

Testimonial

"The job looks fantastic Andy, we're really happy. It looks a world away from when you first started the job. We've passed your card on to a friend. Cheers to you and your lads for all your fantastic work!"

Alan Heatherington

Norton, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

This is a commercial landscaped garden project undertaken at Aspen Gardens - A residential care home in Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

Charis Gracey, the centre manager chose Green Onion Landscaping to carry out the landscaping project from a list of contractors who had given in tenders and  quotations.

Me and the team were honored to carry out this landscaping project and had really hoped we would be given the opportunity to help improve the residents daily lives. We know how important it is for elderly people to feel independent. We had chatted with several of the residents when we had visited the site to cost the job. They were really eager to have their new garden with raised flower beds and an area they could sit and chatter in the summer.

During our consultation, Charis explained that the residents would like a large paved patio to sit on, on the warm Summer days. They wanted somewhere outside where they could gather and chatter as well as admire their own planted flowers and tend to the vegetables they planned on growing.

Some of the elderly residents used to be keen gardeners, they were excited at the prospect of having the opportunity to have green fingers again.

They needed a low maintenance garden area where they would be able to grow vegetables and flowers. They were really enthusiastic about being able to keep their independence by doing some gardening in the place where they live. We decided that three raised beds would be built. These could be used for plants and vegetables.

The patio area was built directly off an existing paved area using the same paving stones - Buff Saxon- which are a yellow paving stone. The raised flower and vegetable beds had to be positioned in such a way that the residents could access them on all sides with wheel chairs and walking frames - raised beds are excellent for elderly or disabled people - there is no need for them to bend to reach the flowers or vegetables.

We built the raised beds at a height which allowed the wheelchair users of Aspen Gardens to work at them comfortably when planting or tending to the vegetables and flowers in the raised beds.

We edged the patio area with curved topped buff pin kerbs to give it a neat professional finished look. The pin kerbs also prevent wheelchair users from rolling off the sides of the patio in their chairs. Small gaps were left intermittently in the pin kerbs to allow for drainage. The raised beds were filled with top soil and compost ready for the residents to begin planting.

We also layed a new lush green turf for the residents, this extended right around the newly laid patio area and looked beautiful and green, it perfectly completed the landscape for them.

This landscaping job appeared in the Stockton News magazine. A copy of the article can be read in the News section of our website. We were delighted with the end result of this job and it was an absolute pleasure seeing the faces of the residents when it was officially opened for them. We were chuffed to bit for them. They were all so pleased to have an area where they would be able to do some gardening work of their own.

Testimonial

“The tenants are really enthusiastic about the project and they can’t wait to the planting started. We have a number of keen gardeners living here and this is a fabulous opportunity for them to continue a hobby they enjoy and we are sure the garden will bring pleasure to all our tenants now and in the future. The flower beds and patio look really fantastic. Thank you Andy and your team for your wonderful work.”

Charis Gracie - Services and Facilities Manager

Aspen Gardens, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

This landscaping project was very special to us. We love working with cedar wood decking boards, it's not very often that we get chance to do that either. Cedar wood is expensive, but it really is the 'Rolls Royce' of decking woods.

Cedar wood is the best wood to deck with, it's perfectly suited to the outdoors and doesn't require much looking after at all. The colours in cedar wood decking are fabulous - orange and red tones, very warm and inviting.

Mark asked for a decked area at the rear of his property - quite a large garden in Darlington, Cleveland, Teesside. We talked about exactly what style and design of decking he was looking for. Mark explained that he was keen to have a very different type of decking board. He wanted an up market feel to his decking.

Mark wanted a deluxe decking retreat where he could enjoy his garden and read on his days off and weekends. We ran through a few options and looked at several samples of decking boards. Eventually Mark decided that cedar wood was the decking wood for him. I can understand this, Cedar wood decking is stunning. Once you've seen cedar wood it's hard to want anything else. With the deck boards chosen we moved onto the style of the decking. Mark wanted to use the full lengths of the cedar wood to show off to a maximum the woods grain and colour. He also requested a 'picture frame' edge over hang on his decking.

The frame was constructed first using pressure treated deck joists. These were screwed in to place using treated posts and concrete. The decking frame was fixed with a slight fall away from the house. As with all decking the deck frame needed to be constructed with absolute precision, your decking frame is what will determine the end result of how your decking will look when completed. It absolutely must be 100% square and 100% flat.

Cedar wood decking, although a little more expensive than more common decking woods, looks absolutely spectacular when fitted correctly. It also has the most amazing smell which will always be present. It's rich and woody and makes you feel warm and comfortable.

Cedar wood needs no pressure treatment, it is the most durable and hardy wood in the world. Ideal for outdoor use and perfect for decking, as you can see from the pictures! Mark was thrilled to bits with his decking and has and still is enjoying the look smell and feel of his cedar wood decking!

Testimonial

" Thanks for the fantastic job you and your team did with my decking. I couldn't have hoped for anything better, it's absolutely stunning. Your attention to detail is outstanding. I love everything about it. I'm mesmerised every time I come out onto my decking. Wow - the wood is truly stunning, I definitely made the right decision going for the cedar wood.Thanks Again."

Mark Stratford

Middleton St. George, Darlington, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, Teesside.

This landscaping job was planned,designed and constructed for a lady called Maureen. Maureen was unsure of what type of patio she wanted. We discussed and showed her various examples of our previous work. We decided on a circular two ring patio. Maureen's circular patio was built from buff york stone, the path is also buff yorkstone. The area around the patio was gravelled and a new turf lawn laid. The circular patio has been created using Buff York Stone too.

Buff York Stone is ideal for a patio, it has a great colour and texture.The path leading to the patio has been creatively crafted in an offset manner also from buff york stone. The cobble stone along the edge of the patio, beautifully enhances the curve of the path and leads the eye naturally to the circular patio.

Southern gold gravel has been carefully selected to fill in the gaps between the patio stones both on the path and the circular patio, see how it lifts the path and patio form and shape. The Southern gold gravel lifts and enhances the path and patio stone delicately but perfectly.The gravel in the background of this particular circular patio is dark grey pea gravel, again this enhances the curve of the circular patio.

Testimonial

" Dear Andy, I would like to thank you for the wonderful work you did at my house. I love my new patio and lawn. My friends love coming round and admiring my garden while drinking several glasses of wine. It's so relaxing. I can unwind after work now in my garden, which is great. I was really impressed with how neat and tidy you all were. I would never have known you were here apart from my new patio and lawn of course. Thanks again. Kind Regards, "

Maureen Patterson

Marton, Middlebrough, Cleveland, Teesside.

This landscape garden was a little bit different. The customer, Chris, wanted to re-design and implement a new patio area at the rear of his house but wanted it to be a surprise for his wife's birthday. This meant building the patio, retaining walls, raised beds and steps whilst his wife was away on business.

This gave me just over a week to start and complete the entire job! It also meant starting and finishing on very specific dates and working to a tight schedule.

Chris said his wife had always longed for something a little bit different in her garden, she had a love of butterflies and dragonflies. She has always wanted a circular patio feature that would stand out from the garden.

We chose Ral Green Sandstone paving for the patio area, this has nicely understated green, grey and taupe brown colours in it. We also suggested a dragonfly patio centre piece as the patio's focal feature and it is a circular patio. We felt sure that Chris's wife would love this. Chris agreed. A large, colourful, graceful dragonfly in the middle of the patio would be ideal for his wife, so that's what we did!

On either side of the patio we put in two sweeping, raised flower beds with retaining walls and between them I constructed a step to give access to the newly  turfed area which was on a higher level. The steps were topped off with Raj Green sandstone paving.

We managed to get the landscaping job completed before Chris's wife, Jane returned home from her business trip, much to her surprise and delight!

Testimonial

"Hi Andy. I just wanted to let you know how incredibly happy and grateful both me and Jane are for the amazing job you did of transforming our garden. The patio is brilliant. Jane loves the dragonfly feature. It looks incredible! Jane nearly fainted when I showed her it. This is one surprise she will never forget, that's all down to you. Thank you so very much."

Chris and Jane Bullock

Yarm, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland,Teesside.