Show home landscaping is similar to dressing a shop window of say Harvey Nicholls, it must be tasteful, visually arresting and well thought-out. You are wanting the prospective purchaser to have decided they are going to buy from you, before they even set foot inside the sales office. Typically, it takes just 10 seconds for the viewers to decide whether they like a property or not from the outside.  

A recent YouGov survey of over 2,000 UK adults from the HomeOwners Alliance found that 67% of respondents thought a tidy and well-kept front garden is one of the most important factors when they first view a house from the outside.

We have had the privilege of designing and installing multiple show home gardens for our house building clients over the past 10 years.  In this blog, we take a look at some of the recent work our teams have been busy designing and installing..

Kings Moat Garden Village, Cheshire

Kings Moat Garden Village, on the outskirts of Chester, is a flag-ship development which will eventually boast over 1,300 new homes.

Being adjacent to one of the main roads running into Chester, the need for instant impact was at a premium and as a new site it was also imperative to create an identity for the scheme – a sense of place. In the first instance, we constructed sandstone pillars and Cheshire railings to the site entrance, coupled with semi-mature tree planting along the spine road for the site. Adding this height and structure immediately provided a context for the development and the housing beyond.

Our next remit was to design and create the landscapes surrounding the show homes - Landstruction’s design and installation teams got to work creating an all season, vibrant and biodiverse space which had that wow factor for that first 'kerb appeal' impression.

The design took inspiration from prairie style planting techniques, making the use of grasses and herbaceous planting to create a relaxed and ethereal feel to the space; multi-stem trees and clipped English Yew topiary added structure and year-round structure to the scheme.

Ledsham Garden Village, Wirral

Based on the outskirts of Cheshire/Wirral border, the 260-acre Garden village site has outline planning permission for 2,000 homes. The first phase launched in 2016 with a 170-home build in which we produced all 9 show home gardens at the entrance to the development.

Now moving into its second phase, we recently designed and installed a beautiful shade tolerant garden - which always presents more of a challenge when you are looking for year-round colour. The use of Hydrangeas, Euphorbias, Brunnera and Hellebores sat amongst beautiful evergreens provides a range of colours; interspersed with bespoke planters, brimming with colour and foliage, all selected based on them flowering at different times of the year.

Well-presented show gardens set the standard for an entire site, making a lasting impression not only on potential buyers, but also any contractors working on site - subliminally conveying messages of quality and excellence.

If you would like to discuss how we can help design and build your show home gardens, or even want to discuss the complete delivery of a particular project.  Please get in touch by emailing create@landstruction.com.

Some of the photos were taken by one of our teams 13 year old son who's a talented photographer. Thanks Noah, you can see his work over on Instagram @n.e.t_photography