Discover how a featureless plot was transformed into the stunning winner of Ideal Home's Best Garden 2024

For most of us, gardens are spaces that evolve over time. You may enlist the help of a garden designer or landscaper for larger jobs, or if you're particularly green-fingered, you might prefer to tackle it all yourself. But ultimately, your space will change and develop as the seasons do.

Winner of Ideal Home's Best Garden 2024, this stunning garden in Surrey is a perfect example of an ever-evolving garden. It's a spacious plot, with lawns and mature trees at the front. When they bought the house, the garden was little more than a large featureless plot with poor soil, but over the years the owners have transformed it into a flower-filled, multi-zoned garden packed with wildlife.

'When we moved in, there was a little terrace of very old crazy paving, and the remains of a pond, all filled in with rubble,' she says, 'while the rest was mostly grass, the borders had been overtaken by huge, light-blocking laurels, and rabbits were eating everything.'

After a couple of years of sunmapping the garden and watching where the light fell and what grew successfully, they decided to make three distinct zones so they could grow flowers, relax and entertain, and encourage wildlife. First steps included taking out overgrown shrubs and a few old trees, and rabbit-proofing the boundaries.

The Organic Garden Company, whom the owner had worked with before, came in to help with heavy landscaping and planting know-how, starting with digging out and enlarging the old pond.

Making use of the natural slope, they installed a small waterfall feature with a pump circulating and refreshing the water. Blanket weed was a problem early on, but has reduced as the surface has become more shaded. Water lilies and irises are thriving, and lush shrubs and tall grasses enclose the pond.

'It’s a quiet spot, tucked away and it’s certainly brought the wildlife,' says the owner, 'We’ve got foxes, hedgehogs, birds, newts, grass snakes, dragonflies and lots of other insects.'

Over the next three years, a series of raised beds was built to one side of the garden, and planted with flowering and scented perennials like jasmine, lavender and salvias. Closer to the house and set into the slope of the garden, they added seating areas and a large, sheltered terrace with a firepit for outdoor dining.

'We’re so pleased with how the garden’s turned out, and proud of it too,' she says, 'It’s definitely for sharing, so I love telling people about it, and having them come and enjoy the space with us.'

Take the tour...

'We use the terrace a lot. It’s close to the kitchen and we’ve got comfy seating and a big table so it’s great for breakfast or coffee outside, or lunch with friends and family. It’s very relaxed, as the flagstones look quite rustic, and I’ve got potted lavender, geraniums and roses softening the edges.'

The original small patio has been dug out and made larger, creating an area for the firepit. 'I wanted the terrace to have an enclosed feel, so we’ve had steps constructed on either side, and the back has been made to look like a dry-stone wall,' she says. 'The sun is here most of the day but we’ve got a big parasol to provide some shade.'

'Our soil is quite dry and sandy, so building raised beds was a great idea. We’ve filled them with richer soil and we can grow the flowers we love. They add a more structured element to the garden too, which makes a nice contrast with some the other, less formal areas.'

'Visiting other gardens is great for inspiration, and we once saw a ‘white garden’, which sparked the idea of colour blocking the raised beds.'

'The first two contain white flowers, like roses and peonies. Next are purply-blue lavenders, Russian sage and wild geraniums, and then hot reds and yellows like rudbeckia, geums and dahlias.'

Whites and pinks are amongst the owner's favourite flower colours. Next to the house, terracotta pots are planted up with flowering shrubs like hebe, fuchsias, and pink and white hydrangeas.

'We only added this seating area and pergola last year, and it gets a lot of use. It’s high up, so there’s a lovely view over the garden. We’ve planted climbers like jasmine and wisteria that will gradually add colour, scent and shade.'

The old greenhouse has a brick floor and white walls to reflect light.

'We raise cuttings in here, and it’s a peaceful spot for pottering about,' says the owner. 'The grapevine was already here and it produces quite sweet-eating grapes, though they’re a bit pippy.'

Painted soft green, and designed to look like a beehive, this unobtrusive compost bin is both practical and pretty.

'We make our own compost just by recycling clippings and household waste like teabags and vegetable peelings. It really helps improve the soil and the bins are home to grass snakes and other creatures, too.'

'The garden pond is my favourite part of the garden. Building it was quite hard work, and it took about a year to settle down. Now we’ve got the right amount of light and everything in balance, apart from clearing the leaves in autumn, it pretty much looks after itself.'

'I’ve realised that you can’t have a perfectly neat and tidy garden if you want to support wildlife. We’ve created a bug hotel for spiders and earwigs, and I don’t cut back the ivy too harshly, as it’s home to lots of insects. I love watching them flying in the air, and they encourage the bats too.'

Get the Look