Are You Sitting Comfortably?

With the cost of living rising at its fastest pace for two years, as inflation hit 4% in January, many homeowners will be looking at tightening the purse strings and dispensing with the annual summer trip abroad. If your traditional two week break is looking likely to be spent at home, then make it a holiday to be remembered by investing time now to get your garden get-away in ship shape condition.
Hopefully – weather permitting – you’ll be able to sample the delights of UK alfresco living so it is worth reviewing your outdoor dining facilities now if you want to be ready to enjoy ‘your very own place’ in the sun:

• Does your garden offer a dedicated dining area which can easily accommodate your outside garden furniture?
• Does the area offer sufficient shade from the midday sun, so diners can sit (safely) and comfortably outside for extended periods of time?
• Is there easy access to power in your outdoor dining zone, so that barbecues and lighting can easily be activated without having to rely on hazardous extension leads?
• Does the garden furniture do the garden justice? Is it in dire need of a style update?
• Is the area lacking in privacy? Too noisy or simply too exposed? It might be time to build in some additional shelter to create a more intimate dining spot

For the professional low down on how to create the ultimate outdoor dining area for your garden, contact our garden design team on 0845 5391467 or visit www.limeorchard.co.uk for further details.

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Edible Gardens

Last year, a major food trends report commissioned by Sainsbury’s, predicted that in 2030, British families will spend less time eating out and more time at home cooking an increasing amount of garden grown vegetables. The report, produced by The Future Laboratory, forecasts that the trend of grow-your-own, which took off during the recession, will continue with far more than the current 15 million people likely to be planting vegetables and fruit on windowsills and gardens in the future.

And with the general public gaining inspiration from top chefs around the UK who have started their own kitchen gardens in order to secure the freshest possible produce the concept of a kitchen garden is destined to snowball.

However, the over-riding attraction of, and practical argument for, creating a dedicated kitchen garden within the outdoor room does not necessarily need to be at the expense of a visually pleasing, beautifully styled outside space. With a bit of careful planning, aesthetic appeal and designer good looks can happily sit alongside the undisputed functional benefits that a kitchen garden offers.
If you are thinking of introducing a touch of the Good Life to your outdoor room, here are a few suggestions to consider:

- sounds obvious but make sure that you site this part of the garden fairly close to the house to make access to the produce quickly and easy. This will also ensure the glorious scents associated with some of the plants will permeate into your indoor living accommodation

- don’t be under the impression that you need to have acres of space to create a kitchen garden. Even the smallest patio and window can house pots to grow herbs (purple sage offers a dramatic display of colour), edible flowers (eg nasturtiums, lavender and rose) and ornamental onions and garlic

- if time is in short supply, consider investing in the creation of some bespoke raised beds. Not only do they look great, their raised height makes light work of weeding and also negates the possibility of domestic pets straying into the family’s outdoor larder!

- if your garden contains a wall, fence or trellis, espalier trained fruit trees will create a dramatic design statement, whilst also delivering bountiful supplies of delicious fruit. In England, espalier training is usually done with apple and pear trees

- if you have areas of the garden which are uneven or where natural mounds occur forget about trying to level them out, instead look at creating a herb tump. These are raised graveled mounds (hoggins) which featured in 18th century garden design. They represent a beneficial way to grow sun-loving plants from the Mediterranean, providing good drainage.  Rosemary, fennel, lavender, chives and wild strawberries do particularly well in this type of environment

- the grow your own revolution can also be extended to rearing your own livestock. Whilst we don’t all necessarily want to entertain the idea of living with pigs and chickens, soaring numbers of people are taking up bee keeping as a hobby amidst concern over the decline of the honeybee. The British Bee Keepers Association has reported a 3.5 million jars of honey were produced by their members this summer and since 2007, the number of hives registered in Britain has doubled, to 80,000

Why not contact Lime Orchard for more advice on how to create the perfect kitchen garden?

Join the Self Build Revolution!

Yes, sorry we bring you news of yet another revolution! This time we are referring to the growing army of aspiring self-builders in the UK. At the beginning of the year, Housing Minister Grant Shapps called on this influential body of home developers to make a housebuilding revolution their New Year's resolution. Self-builders are already Britain's largest housebuilder, and account for one-fifth of Britain's new homes each year, but for far too long the aspirations of ordinary people to build their own home have been thwarted by barriers and infamous red tape.

These obstacles have resulted in the UK having one of the lowest proportions of new homes built by self-builders in Europe - so the Minister has pledged to make self-building more accessible. Barriers that stand in people's way will be torn down - including the current complex and bureaucratic planning system, regulatory burdens, and lack of access to land and finance.

A new Community Right to Build will offer communities the chance to give the green light to new developments without the need for specific planning applications.
This could be local people working alone to build their own homes, or entire communities coming together to build the homes the area needs.

At the moment, self-builders complete as many as 10,000 building projects each year - so making it easier for more people to build their own home will provide a welcome boost to the ailing housing market.

Mr Shapps has asked the National Self Build Association (NASBA) to work with his officials to develop an action plan to boost the number of self-builders across the country - and address the common barriers aspiring self-builders face, which include:

availability of land - including making public sector land available for house building
availability of finance - working with lenders to ensure self-building communities can get the finance they need

availability of expert support - how self-builders can support communities looking to build the homes they need, and how those new to self-building can be supported

Building your own house (and of course creating your ideal outdoor living accommodation) has to be the most rewarding – and often financially savvy – means of achieving your dream home. So is it time you joined the revolution?