Big fan of the dual patio!

They are good aren't they? We wanted to keep the view as open as possible.

I love it and think it really good use of space, but I am intrigued. 1. Did this involve moving tons of soil and 2. I suspect this was exceedingly expensive. Any chance of a ballpark figure just out of interest?

p.s. I have to mention the 'before' photo. That is a LOT of bird poo! ;)

Hi Mandy, I'm glad you like the garden. It didn't involve moving tons of earth, we kept the levels pretty much the same. There is a massive 2.7-3m level change but we made the deck at the top larger and put the stairs to the side. The raised bed and the paved terrace with steps down to the artificial lawn help reduce the overal impact of the height.

And yes, that was a shocking about of bird poo! It was probably one of the most miserable sites we have seen, dark and pooey, lovely! Always satisfying to make a real difference.

I can't remember the exact build figure but I know we had a ceiling of £50,000 which we were comfortably under.

A great looking garden for entertaining.

Thank you for responding Hamilton Cody Garden Design. Often the professionals don't bother, so it is good to see you are listening and taking the time to give a response.

Really interesting how the space has been opened up. Was a waterfall considered on the wall between the two levels? Michael.

H Michael. That would have been a great idea, an interesting use of the level change. Unfortunately our client was not interested in having a water feature of any kind. We often design them in and then design them out again once it has been priced.

Do you have a view on the ideal size for a patio?

Unsurprisingly we do! We find that most people underestimate the size you need for a good terrace. It is usually the amount of circulation space needed that gets forgotten. We like go as generous as we can, for a table seating 8 people we would aim for 4.6-5.6m x 3.4-4.4m depending on the space you have to play with.

Hi - really love the garden design - changing the steps to the side has opened up so much space! What would be the logistics of building an under cover seating area in the space under the top decking?? was this considered or is it mega expensive??

Hi there, to be honest we never considered it. The whole idea was to open up the garden and to have as much light as possible. We have created storage areas under other high level decks but this garden had a concrete block retaining wall because of the soil levels. As you can see in the shot below it was a super tricky site.

Timber decking is the perfect solution for creating useable spaces in sloping gardens.