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How to downsize your garden for less stress and just as much pleasure

Peter Hargreaves - Clara Molden
Peter Hargreaves - Clara Molden

Moving to a new garden in later life gives you a chance to ask different things from your outdoor space than perhaps you did when you and your family were younger.

It can be difficult to leave a much-loved garden, tended over the years, but one gate closes, another opens. A new, smaller one brings the freedom to be able to lock up and leave; or else a chance to dig deep and learn about new conditions and plants, whether you are inheriting an established scheme, or starting again to create something entirely for and about yourself.

Whether you move to free up capital, save on labour costs, or for other reasons, you are part of a trend of older people leaving their long-term family homes and larger gardens to move to a town or city in order to be nearer their children and grandchildren, at least according to Andrew Perratt, the head of country residential at Savills.

Post pandemic, many retirees are realising that although the old garden had been getting rather a lot to maintain, they are not prepared to say goodbye to greenery altogether. They are looking for properties with a small garden that they will be able to keep on top of without too much trouble.

 Chelsea gold-medal-winning garden designer Jo Thompson has ‘downsized’ several of her clients - Christopher Pledger
 Chelsea gold-medal-winning garden designer Jo Thompson has ‘downsized’ several of her clients - Christopher Pledger

“People who like their gardens are realistic about what they can do,” says Jo Thompson, who has designed several downsized gardens since she won a gold medal for a show garden for the horticultural charity Thrive at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show just over a decade ago. “They have been through it all before, so they know the peaks and troughs.”

Unlike clearing out the clutter accumulated in a house that you have lived in for many years, at least leaving a garden is a matter of deciding what you might take with you – the rest is left behind for the next owners to deal with.

If there are significant plants that you want to bring with you – perhaps for sentimental reasons – tell the buyers and conveyancing solicitors that they are not included in the purchase (that goes for the garden furniture and statuary too), or dig them out and put them in a pot before anyone has seen them and expected them to be part of what they are buying. And remember to clear out the garden shed before you go; the new owners might not be keen to inherit your extensive collection of plastic pots, accumulated over the years.

You will also have to make room to transport them to the new abode, along with all your furniture and other clobber. Some removal companies will even look after your plants and any garden furniture, statues, bird baths etc until you are ready to place them.

Sometimes, you have to be realistic, though, and realise a plant is not going to survive the move, or the conditions will be completely wrong, so, as with that family home, you just have to say goodbye: there’s another chapter ahead.

Peter and Rose Hargreaves moved from Somerset to Clifton, Bristol: ‘The old house was a big place to leave and lock up’

Peter Hargreaves, the co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest investment platform, is a man keen on his garden. The last time we met was at his country home in Chew Magna, Somerset, with four acres and several different areas to inspect, tended by two gardeners. When discussing if we could fit in a visit to his new garden in Clifton, Bristol, before he took his wife, Rose, out for a birthday lunch, he tells me it shouldn’t take too long: this one is 19m by 29m.

The Hargreaveses bought the Georgian town house, which is a short walk from their son, daughter and grandchildren, two years ago and moved from Chew Magna in February.

A dry river bed doesn’t need much attention and the stones suppress weeds - Clara Molden
A dry river bed doesn’t need much attention and the stones suppress weeds - Clara Molden

“I was 75 recently and I don’t like the cold in winter,” he says, so off they fly to sunny climes when it starts getting chilly here. “The [old] house was a big place to leave and lock up. The other motivation for moving was that we had lived there for 25 years and the garden was a finished project – I didn’t want to do anything else.”

Mr Hargreaves didn’t get to where he is today – he is worth an estimated £2.4 billion – without being a planner and, while the Clifton house was being modernised, he would come round to see where the sun fell on the garden at different times of the day, in order to work out the planting. Meanwhile, back in Chew Magna, he was busy propagating plants in his greenhouse and digging up favourites that he would bring with him: cordylines, trachycarpus, tree ferns, cycads and a variety of grasses. A banana, Musa basjoo, which lived outside for 25 years, has celebrated its new, warmer position in the urban microclimate by producing a crop of little bananas for only the second time.

Large, sculptural pots and shades of green work all year round - Clara Molden
Large, sculptural pots and shades of green work all year round - Clara Molden

The one thing allowed to remain in the Clifton garden (out went a concrete-based astroturf cricket pitch) was a striking purple-leaved acer, so the space was well-nigh a clean slate. Hargreaves has decided to be the sole gardener here so, like many downsizers, ease of maintenance is key for him. There was to be no lawn to cut, and he had the idea of creating the effect of a dried river bed, with boulders and different sizes of stones, among which the transported plants would be placed and the weeds would be minimal.

Andy Pearce, with whom he had worked on landscaping at Chew Magna, helped him draw it up and the designer Lesley Hegarty finessed the plans. Hargreaves reckons he spends an hour a week on the garden. “I haven’t weeded in here for a month.” Once the acer leaves are down, and plants are cut back, the garden can go to sleep for winter, quietly waiting for him and Rose to return with a tan.

And as Mr Hargreaves concludes, “I went round to have a look at the old garden about six weeks ago – and I didn’t want it back.”

Carolyn and Chris Ashworth have created a new space at the other end of their garden in Blackheath, London: ‘I wanted it to be as wild as I could make it’

Carolyn Ashworth and her husband, Chris, who are in their late sixties, didn’t have to move very far; in fact, it was only to the other end of their 100ft garden in Blackheath, south-east London, where they have created a garden in a space of about 20ft x 30ft. A new wall of reclaimed bricks, which matches that of the contemporary eco house they have built there, divides the two and they planted a stand of silver birches in their former garden before they left, to screen it off lightly.

Garden designer Catherine Clancy trod the line between a wild, colourful planting style and easy maintenance - Catherine Clancy
Garden designer Catherine Clancy trod the line between a wild, colourful planting style and easy maintenance - Catherine Clancy

Unlike Mr Hargreaves, who is not one for sweet disorder, Carolyn wanted her garden “to be as wild as I could make it”, both in terms of the planting and encouraging wildlife to visit. She asked Catherine Clancy, a designer who lives just down the road, to help her make a garden of generously proportioned brick and crazy-paving paths winding between wide borders filled with tall perennials, such as 7ft-high rudbeckia, to seating areas.

Chris, a retired solicitor, has taken up painting and likes strong colours, so there are lots of plants with different shapes and shades for him to capture. Having made quite an investment in making sure it had decent, weed-free soil, “it is just a matter of keeping the perennials under control; there is no heavy digging,” says Carolyn.

Light tree cover and solid boundaries create a sense of privacy - Catherine Clancy
Light tree cover and solid boundaries create a sense of privacy - Catherine Clancy

Raised beds of quartz paddle stones from CED, not only add another level of planting and wall edges to sit on, but make it easier to tackle any weeding and cutting back. The Ashworths brought only a handful of plants to their new garden, including the rudbeckias, a hydrangea and a rose, all of which are thriving.

The couple have installed an irrigation system, and there is no lawn to grow wild when they are travelling, or at their house in France for two months in the summer. “I can come back and deal with it all pretty quickly,” says Carolyn. “I’m not afraid of leaving it.”

A downsizer’s guide to energy-efficient design

Lawns

For those who want to keep a lawn – perhaps as somewhere for the dogs or the grandchildren to play – but can’t face the weekly trim or have little space to store a mower, hurrah for the invention of the robot mower. It will carry on quietly doing its thing when you are off on that month-long cruise, so you don’t come back to a meadow.

Pots

Confined to a terrace or patio? There is much you can grow in pots, including herbs and vegetables; the bigger the pots, the less bending down and watering you will have to do.

Perennials

Grow bulbs such as daffodils that will come up every year, so have to be planted only once, says Jo Thompson. They are just as cheery as one-time-only tulips.

Rest a while

You can never have too much seating: raised beds and terrace walls can double up. Make sure there is somewhere in the shade as well as the sun.

Multitaskers

A table can double up as a worktop. Evergreens planted nearby, such as daphne or viburnum, will not only be low-maintenance and provide year-round form, but pump out scent on a winter’s day.

The three pictures here are of the Ashworths’ garden in Blackheath, designed by Catherine Clancy - Catherine Clancy
The three pictures here are of the Ashworths’ garden in Blackheath, designed by Catherine Clancy - Catherine Clancy

Raised beds

Raised beds add another dimension of interest to the planting and you can control the soil within to grow a different plant palette. Ms Thompson suggests using a no-dig approach (see charlesdowding.com) which involves less maintenance. Don’t make the beds too wide or they will be a strain to stretch across.

Paths and access

Even if you are still running in marathons, some of your friends might not be, so make sure paths have even, non-slip surfaces, such as close-butted paving (saves on weeding too). Also make them wide enough – at least 3ft – for someone with a stick, walking frame or in a wheelchair. There should also be enough room for the chair to turn.

Lighting

Low-level lighting is a good idea, especially near steps. A post or two to grab near steps is more subtle than handrails, says Ms Thompson. Make sure they are on both sides; not everyone is right-handed. A ramp down the middle or side of the steps will make it easier to negotiate a wheelbarrow or wheelchair.

Boundaries

If there is a choice between a hedge and a wall or fence, take the last two, says Thompson. Then you don’t have to worry about cutting it back every year, or bringing in someone to do it.

Irrigation

If you are away a lot or just can’t be bothered, an irrigation system, put in at the same time as any new beds, will cut down on labour. Or else use tough plants that need little cosseting, and make sure there are plenty of water sources – butts and taps – within easy reach. Ms Thompson suggests strong growers that don’t need staking and self-clinging climbers, such as Hydrangea petiolaris, so you don’t have to deal with cutting them back every year.

Tools to make life easier

Tools to make life easier
Tools to make life easier

Expandable hose, from £34.95, sarahraven.com; Quiet robotic Sileno mower, from £549, worldofwatering.co.uk; Rotating handle easy-grip secateurs, £14.99, davaon.com; Set of four wooden plant caddies, £29.99, wayfair.co.uk; Bosch Easycut12 mini chainsaw, £142.99, screwfix.com; Easy-move Bristol Tool Company large barrow, £200, wheelbarrows.co.uk; Easi-Grip garden cultivator; also comes with arm-support cuff, from £14.95 peta-uk.com; Wall-hugger VegTrug raised planter, £139, vegtrug.com