Garden patio compromise - ideas how to decide

[Haylingbilly]

I have an issue that to get planning permission, I had to lower my ground level of my house by 1m, however due to protected trees am limited to how much I can excavate my plot. I have patio doors leading out to my rear garden which I am planning on a patio area stepping up to a lawn. I can have the seating area of the patio beside my house, so the patio out of the doors is really there to enable doors to open and to stop you looking at the retaining wall immediately outside the doors.  But the rear garden is only 8m deep so am torn where to site the retaining wall. The further away from the house it is, the nicer the outlook from the doors but I lose lawn. The closer it is the house, the worse the outlook but the bigger lawn area I get! 

 

I have attached a plan from a garden designer who has helped with ideas but really looking for any other ideas or thoughts as she was not sure what was best and suggested 2m level then a raised bed, then lawnAndy Brown Landscape Plan v003.PDF 

 

Any thoughts or ideas on how I resolve this conundrum?

[Radian]

Is the ramp to the left of the main steps really going up to them?

Edited December 8, 2021 by Radian

[Haylingbilly]

18 hours ago, Radian said:

Is the ramp to the left of the main steps really going up to them?

Since doing the plan, it all looks different once excavation is complete. There is on one ramp out the front now, and that is the one running parallel to the front steps. Everywhere immediately surrounding the house is level. 

[Radian]

19 hours ago, Andy brown said:

The closer it is the house, the worse the outlook but the bigger lawn area I get! 

 

Perhaps you could make the retaining wall look more attractive. A half-way house might be to terrace it by having two 0.5m lifts. The lowest is used as a planter, maybe just 0.5m deep.