The Value of Street Appeal

It’s very common to have a straight path leading from the street to the front door and then down the hallway, creating a runway effect and eroding privacy, as passersby can sometimes peer all the way from the street to the backyard! A popular solution to employ is to offset the gate from the front door, building a sense of journey and allowing guests to enjoy the garden as they move through it. Setting the gate in a bit from the fence line is also an effective technique, creating a buffer between the public street and the private garden.

As a guest walks through from the gate to the door, the front garden should unfold with a sense of excitement and drama. As with any garden space, consider all the senses, tantalising with texture, colour, and scent. Add interest with pots, sculpture or eye-catching plantings, while remembering to maintain a sense of scale and balance and keeping the rest of the palette simple and sympathetic to the architecture. Clever lighting can combine practicality with drama, using shadows to turn simple plantings into something sculptural.