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caliwag

A blog by caliwag in General

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Front Gardens

caliwag

Entry posted by caliwag

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This is a follow-up of a discussion that has taken place on a couple of forums in the past.

 

A book that I have not referred to in my book to be found in cargocollective.com/selfbuildhome is Bernard Rudofsky's 'Behind the picture window'  an excellent little book from 1955 by a writer, teacher and architect. (Sadly £50+ on ABEbooks.co.uk) It is written from an American perspective, though the sentiments seem to apply equally to the UK. Indeed when I worked for a speculative house-builder, open plan front gardens were the order or the day, insisted on by my bosses, the planners and probably the sales department as well. I did manage to break the mould by drawing beech hedges along and between the house fronts which were duly ordered up and planted...the planners assumed it was an enlightened builder and my bosses assumed it was a planning condition...haha 1-0 to Caliwag.

 

So in the above book, Bernard was completely anti silly lawns..."in its present state, the front lawn does not invite play or rest. It is not a place where one might want to read a book. There is no question that it belongs to the street rather than to the house" Depending on the location of your front door and entrance hall, orientation and indeed the house layout, use and planting of a front garden could be similar to a side or rear garden.

 

Mr R suggests "Even the average front lawn has enough room for a sunny place which, on bright mornings, may serve as a breakfast nook: a shaded corner for discovering the therapeutic value of a siesta: a well screened patch of grass for sunbathing: perhaps a sand pile for the youngest or even a paddling pool. And there may be still space left for flower beds and a herb garden. An inexhaustible repertoire of walls, hedges, fences, pergolas and trellises, tents and sun-sails may help us to feel more at home under the sky. The habitable garden could thus become additional living space and, in a sense, a nobler version of the house" All very interesting...a nice check list to set one thinking, and very 3D. As an architect, Mr R did 'defy the local authorities by-laws by building walls and trellises and unfortunately he does not outline the outcome.

 

A fascinating alternative to creating effectively back garden to the front, is to follow the modern advice/trend of, what has been dubbed "a new perennial movement" using bold drifts of herbaceous plants and grasses as outlined by Piet Oudolf in one of his many books 'Planting, A New Perspective' 2013 about £20 on ABE...it is a new way of low maintenance planting with fascinating seasonal planting schemes...defo anti lawn  Happy Designing Folks   

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caliwag

Ha...Amazon are on the ball. Just been notified that Oudolf book is available from them for just over £4, I assume plus postage...scary isn't it?

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ProDave

Open plan front gardens are  a pet hate of mine. Since about the 1980's they have been the normal offering on new housing estates.  My first house had that, a completely open patch of grass, with nothing to separate it from the road or even from next doors equally bland patch of open grass. A covenant with the house prohibited you fencing in your front garden.  The result was unloved patches of grass that the house owners occasionally mowed, but never took any pride in.

 

When I moved up from that first house, NOT having an open plan front garden was very high on my list of must have's. And I achieved that in my second house with it's fully enclosed front and side garden. A much more welcoming space with no silly restrictions what I could and could not do with it.

 

My last self build and the current one are the same. Although I have not yet decided where and how to partition off my garden from the road, it will be somehow. At least it is already fenced from next door all the way right up to the road.

 

There is another issue with unfenced gardens that may one day catch you out.  When I was going through planning for my plot, the issue of visibility splays came up. I did have the required visibility but did not hold "control" over the visibility splay as that include part of my neighbours front gardens.  When discussing this with Highways, they made the statement that with unfenced land, they can "claim" the first 3 metres as "the highway" and I was told should a neighbour plant or build something on that, that blocks my visibility splay, to inform them, and they would come and remove it.

 

So be warned, no fence, and part of your garden could become the highway at any point.

 

The fence issue also became apparent when doing work on my site to prepare the site entrance. I was told when working within 3 metres of the highway anyone working had to hold a minor street works permit, which of course I do not. However if it is fenced, that does not apply, so I erected a temporary fence right along the edge of the highway to ensure I did not need such a permit.

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Oz07

In case sarcasm was missed I was having a dig at the modern way of paving everything !

 

btw @ProDave I'd be dubious of that advice. Sure I wouldn't be letting highways claim ownership or control of front portion of any of my ground. There may be some argument for splays which have existed for 20+ years but even then...

 

a prudent housebuilder with a wide enough plot should put the road access at least the visibility splays width away from their boundary

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caliwag

Haha...not misinterpreted Oz07. I keep receiving leaflets through the door from so-called 'Brick Pave' chancers (I have a two car gravel draining spot in front of a reasonable privacy planted spot) but a guy down the cul-de-sac has had the 'roll-out' and indent style 'blocks' installed for his 4/5 cars (including teenage sons and visiting girl friends!)...of course during a downpour it all runs straight to a street gulley, thus contributing to local floods! 

When I worked for the Scottish spec. builder 50 years ago, we were always obliged to install splays for incredibly high spec. estate roads...as the local Wag said 'to allow dustcarts to pass at speed)

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