Courtyard and Small Gardens

A lot of older terraced town houses tend to have smaller outdoor spaces. Historically, private flower gardens for small gardens weren’t really a thing until the 20th century. Often outdoor spaces had a much more practical use as places for privvies or outdoor loos or being laid over with stone for use as a yard. Nowadays, garden space is often compromised by extensions, leaving outdoor spaces feeling cramped and possibly more shady, as buildings have encroached.

These days new builds often have small outdoor space as budgets for exteriors get eaten up in the quest for more high spec internal living space. Having worked on property developments previously, I’ve been on the receiving end of a tightly squeezed budget with the resulting ‘garden’ being not much more than a window box

Turning small spaces into green outdoor spaces can sometimes be more challenging as result but it’s actually a design challenge I relish! They can really feel like an oasis in the city and places of calm, if they are thought out properly. I find people almost utilise small gardens more, perhaps because they have less garden to take for granted and the gardens often feel more like an additional room, for use to sit or dine in, or just to fill with plants.

As well as sharp design, good planting is often really key. Plants have to really work to earn their place in small gardens, so long flowering with scent or evergreen is great. Climbers to fill vertical spaces is useful. Bulbs are great for hits of colour throughout the year as well. Sometimes sticking to one colour works well, making the space feel calmer.

Design tricks like mirrors can look great. And a water-feature can also make a real difference - bringing the noise and movement of water into a space, which can be heard through an open door, is very soothing. See the Greenwich garden below, which has both of these elements.

I myself had a very tiny garden in London, with a small front garden and a sliver of a roof terrace at the back. I utilised every bit of space, including the window sills and I managed to squeeze in a breakfast terrace for coffee in the sun, two olive trees, and raised beds for flowers and herbs in the front garden and a really green private terrace at the back of the house, with an inbuilt bench and lots of planters for climbers and grew veg in pots. I even had a ferret living out there at one point…. not to be repeated but fun whilst it lasted.

Here a few of the courtyards or small gardens I’ve designed and installed over the years.