Landscaping in Stratford-upon-Avon, priced in writing before anything starts.
Landscaping in Stratford runs into a rule people rarely expect: the listing of a building can extend to what is around it.
Curtilage listing means that a boundary wall, a gate pier, an outbuilding or another structure within the grounds of a listed building can itself be protected, even though nobody thinks of it as a listed structure. Demolishing an old garden wall on a listed property is therefore not automatically yours to decide, and it is the single most common way a well meant garden project turns into an enforcement conversation. We check before quoting anything that involves removing a structure on a historic property.
Surface water is the second Stratford consideration, and it connects to the council’s Policy CS.4 on the water environment and flood risk. Adding a large area of hard surfacing changes how much water runs off a plot and how fast, and on a site where flood risk is a live issue that matters beyond the usual permeability rules.
The national rule applies regardless: more than five square metres of hard surfacing at the front needs a permeable material or drainage to a soft area within your boundary, or planning permission.
Materials in a conservation area are not a free choice, and a modern concrete flag in front of a historic frontage will be noticed by more than the council. Our landscaping page shows the range of the work.
Four things we commit to on every job, rather than four things we say about ourselves.
Permitted development is not an exemption from Building Regulations. We arrange the Stratford-on-Avon District Council inspections, meet the inspector on site at each stage and see the work through to sign off. We do not make the application itself, and we will tell you what is needed and when.
Free, and you get it before you commit to us. Party walls and skip licences are raised at quotation stage, not three weeks into the dig.
The same people do the groundworks, the brickwork and the fit out. Nobody hands your job to a subcontractor you have never met.
You get a straight answer rather than a padded price. It costs us a job occasionally and saves you a great deal more.
Process, specification and what moves the price are set out on our landscaping page.
The answers that genuinely differ from one Stratford-upon-Avon street to the next.
Every tree in a conservation area is protected whether or not an order exists, which means six weeks written notice to the district before even a heavy prune. Removing a protected tree is a criminal offence and the fine can exceed the cost of the entire garden.
Village lanes around Stratford are narrow and frequently walled, so we size deliveries to what can genuinely reach the plot rather than booking a full load and finding out at the corner.
Levels and retaining structures are designed and drained rather than stacked, particularly where ground falls towards a watercourse.
Before an old garden wall comes down on a listed property we check the curtilage position, because that is a very much easier conversation to have beforehand than afterwards.
Part of our wider building work in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Send photographs and a rough brief, or call and talk it through. We will tell you if a job is not right for us.
Southfield Construction (Rugby) Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company 14209138.
