Gardening - July.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 14:35 Page 1
GARDENING
Making an entrance
A front garden can make all the difference to your home. Elly West explains why a well-designed, well-kept front garden increases a property’s saleability, and creates important wildlife corridors
88 TheBATHMagazine
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JUly 2021
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iSSUe 221
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If the pond had been in their back garden, they probably wouldn’t look at it half as often
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his morning I visited a client whose front garden I designed last year. It’s starting to come into its own now, with areas of meadow, gravel, plenty of plants, a few trees and space for a car, plus a beautiful round pond just outside the front door. It’s not a huge space, but works effectively and while it’s unusual to have a pond in a front garden, chatting to my client made me rethink the importance of front gardens. Our front gardens provide the first impression of our home. They welcome visitors and are seen and walked through every time we arrive and leave. They also provide a view from the ground-floor windows. As my client commented, if the pond had been in the back garden, they probably wouldn’t look at it half as often as they do – it’s visible each time they go anywhere and with young children in the house, it’s somewhere to stop and investigate every day after school, to spot dragonflies and (in early June when I was there) a multitude of wriggling, fat tadpoles in the shallows. A well-designed and well-kept front garden can increase a property’s saleability, with buyers judging a house by its frontage before they’ve stepped inside. First impressions definitely count. “A nice front garden makes a massive difference,” explains assistant manager Scott Higgins, at Debbie Fortune Estate Agents. “People often do drive-bys before they book a viewing and if the garden looks welcoming and looked after, it indicates a happy, friendly home.” Although reluctant to put a percentage figure on the difference to property value, he adds, “The difference between a messy front garden and a nice one could add £10,000 or more, depending on the property. I’m always very honest and will tell clients to sort out the front garden if necessary, and add
some colour. Palms are very popular, and acers as they make a statement.” While there’s no doubt that off-street parking is highly desirable in estate agents’ and buyers’ eyes, ramping up the asking price, it doesn’t have to take over the whole space, or be installed to the detriment of wildlife. Front gardens make important habitats and wildlife corridors for bees, butterflies and other small beneficial creatures, so if you don’t have much room, include some large planted container displays or just a window box or two. Mori polls commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2005 and 2015 revealed that three times as many front gardens had been paved over during that 10-year interval, causing problems with flash-flooding and water run-off, as well as loss of wildlife habitats. So if you are introducing somewhere to park your car, then consider gravel or permeable bricks, and keep hard surfaces to a minimum. As well as benefitting wildlife, a container brimming with colourful plants is an instant way to create a warm welcome and smarten up your entrance, and it’s easy to ring the changes through the seasons. While
