Small Cottage Garden – Skipton, North Yorkshire

Planning a small garden can have challenges, space is at a premium and to try and incorporate or work around existing features can limit options. Whether you are working around existing trees or paths or in the case of this garden an existing pergola there is always a solution – just because something looks possibly wrong at the start, like the pergola here, it doesn’t mean it should be dismissed or removed, it may just be the perfect feature!

Several years ago we created a garden in a village just outside Skipton for a retired couple. It’s a pleasant terraced cottage with a small 6m x 12m garden. At first glance it looks a nice cottage type of garden with borders and a lawn, however the small and very mossy lawn on a slight gradient meant it was not ideal for the site and  it was a nuisance to mow and maintain. The plan was to remove the lawn and design a paved garden working around the existing pergola structure against the adjoining house wall.

The pergola which at first looked to dominate the garden and reduced the width of the usable space proved to be a fantastic asset in the end and really does add to the garden. Ideally an informal small garden will benefit from the use of curved borders and curved paved areas. This enables the corners of the site and the boundaries to be blended in with planting meaning that the garden looks bigger and the true size of the site isn’t immediately obvious.

The paving (picture below) used Marshalls tegula paving setts laid in a curved pattern which wasn’t easy to do but the detail in the paving layout makes a massive difference to the garden. It’s worth noting that ten years after this garden was created it is still one of my favourites. It has an immense amount of interest and is bright and fun with easy maintenance too. The pergola provides a great way to use climbers and gives a wonderful backdrop to the entire garden.