Skip to main content
Landscaping in Barnet

Considered gardens,
right across Barnet.

Barnet spans Hampstead Garden Suburb, the villages of Totteridge and Mill Hill, and mile after mile of inter-war Finchley. Few boroughs ask for a wider range of work.

Building in Barnet

What we work with here

01

From the Garden Suburb to the 1930s semi

Hampstead Garden Suburb is one of the most carefully controlled residential landscapes in the country, and its gardens were designed as part of the architecture rather than added afterwards — hedged frontages, particular boundary treatments, a deliberate relationship between house and street. Totteridge and Mill Hill hold large detached houses on substantial, often semi-rural plots. Finchley, Whetstone and Hendon are mostly inter-war semis with regular rectangular gardens of a good size. These are three genuinely different design problems, and the only thing they share is that there is enough space to do something properly.

02

Clay, slope and space to work

The borough sits on London Clay, rising towards the ridge that runs through Mill Hill, Totteridge and High Barnet — so a good number of gardens have a usable fall across them, and some have a substantial one. On a large plot that is an asset: a change of level is the easiest way to make a big rectangular garden feel like more than one space. The clay itself needs the usual respect, with a consolidated sub-base under anything rigid and drainage designed for the area being paved rather than assumed. Access is generally good, which means machinery can often get to the back and the groundwork goes in properly.

03

The Garden Suburb needs the Trust as well as the council

If your house is in Hampstead Garden Suburb, external alterations are governed by a scheme of management administered by the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, and you will generally need the Trust's consent in addition to anything the council requires. It applies to things people do not expect — boundary treatments, hedges, front garden surfaces, outbuildings. It is not an obstacle so much as a design brief, and schemes that respect the original intent tend to go through. Elsewhere in Barnet the usual conservation area and tree protections apply in the older centres, and standard permitted-development rules govern front driveways.

Our services in Barnet

What we build in Barnet

Garden Design

Bespoke garden planning, planting schemes, and 3D visuals.

Learn more

Porcelain Paving

Modern, stain-resistant paving solutions for contemporary gardens.

Learn more

Natural Stone Driveways

Elegant Yorkstone, Limestone, and Sandstone installations.

Learn more

Decking & Seating

Custom composite or hardwood decking with built-in features.

Learn more

Retaining Walls & Fencing

Structural walls and privacy fencing for defined garden spaces.

Learn more

Jet Washing & Rejuvenation

Restore old patios and driveways to look brand new.

Learn more
Questions we get asked

Barnet, specifically

Who approves garden work in Hampstead Garden Suburb?
Usually two bodies. External alterations in the Suburb fall under a scheme of management run by the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, whose consent is needed alongside any planning permission the council requires. It covers boundaries, hedges, front garden surfaces and outbuildings as well as the house. Schemes designed sympathetically to the original character are far more likely to be approved, so it pays to design with the constraint rather than apply and hope.
What can you do with a long, plain rectangular garden in Finchley?
Break the sightline. A single rectangle read end to end always looks like a corridor, however well it is paved. Dividing it into two or three spaces — a terrace at the house, something in the middle worth walking to, and a working or seating area at the far end — makes a garden feel larger, not smaller. Level changes, a planted screen, or a change of surface material all do this. Barnet plots are almost always deep enough to carry it.
Is the clay in Barnet a problem for paving?
It is a design input rather than a problem. London Clay shrinks in dry summers and swells in winter, so anything laid on a thin bed over undisturbed clay will eventually move. The answer is an excavated and compacted sub-base of the right depth, laid on a separation membrane, with drainage that takes water away from the house. Done that way, clay ground carries a terrace or driveway perfectly well for decades.
Coverage

Areas we cover in Barnet

  • Hampstead Garden Suburb
  • Finchley
  • Mill Hill
  • Totteridge
  • Whetstone
  • High Barnet

Postcode districts: N2 · N3 · N11 · N12 · N20 · NW4 · NW7 · NW11 · EN4 · EN5

All 32 London boroughs

Get a free quote in Barnet.

Tell us about the site and we will arrange a survey. Written, no-obligation quotes for anywhere in Barnet.

WhatsApp Us