LANDSCAPER IN CHESHAM

Chesham is one of the towns we know best. Our yard is at Cholesbury, ten minutes up the road, which means two practical things: we can usually get to you quickly to look at something, and we already know what is under most of the gardens here.

We do the whole job — clear it, design it, build it. Connor is an NPTC-qualified arborist as well as a landscaper, so a garden that needs a tree taking out, the ground levelling and a patio putting in is one team and one price instead of three trades and three deposits.

What Chesham gardens throw at you

Four valleys, and none of them flat

The town sits where several valleys meet, with the River Chess running through the bottom. The ground climbs sharply out of the centre in every direction — up to Hivings and Hilltop, up Botley, up towards Chartridge and Pednor. Very few gardens here are level.

That means terracing: splitting a sloping garden into two or three usable levels with a retaining wall and steps. A retaining wall holding back a bank is proper construction — footings, drainage behind it, the right block — and it is where cheap quotes quietly leave work out. Done properly it turns an unusable slope into the best part of the garden.

Flint, and plenty of it

Chalk with clay-with-flints over the top on the higher ground. Digging footings takes longer here than it does on clean clay, and stump grinding is slower because the grinder keeps meeting flint. It is not a problem, it is just time, and an honest quote accounts for it.

Waterside, Newtown and the terraces

The Victorian terraces around Waterside, Newtown, Berkhampstead Road and the streets off the High Street mostly have no side access. Every slab and every barrow of spoil goes through the house. We plan the route, board and sheet it, and price the job for what it actually is rather than discovering it on the first morning.

Up on the Hivings, Pond Park and Lye Green estates the plots are bigger and access is usually straightforward, so the same job runs quicker and costs less.

The conservation area and protected trees

Chesham has a conservation area covering the town centre, Church Street and Germain Street, and neighbouring Chesham Bois has one of its own with a great many mature trees. There are Tree Preservation Orders on ordinary garden trees all over the town.

If your tree is protected you need Buckinghamshire Council’s permission before anyone touches it, and cutting without it is a criminal offence that lands on you as the owner. We check before we quote and handle the paperwork — see protected trees.

The Chess and the wet ground

Gardens down near the river and along Bois Moor Road sit on wet ground with a high water table. Patios there need drainage designed in rather than hoped for, and a lawn will need the water dealt with before turf is worth laying.

What we do here

• Patios and paving — usually terraced, with the wall and steps built at the same time
• Retaining walls — the job this town asks for most
• Driveways — including the steep ones off Hivings Hill and Botley Road
• Fencing — raked to follow a slope rather than stepped with gaps underneath
• Turfing and lawns — with the drainage sorted first on the low ground
• Garden clearance — overgrown plots, probate properties, end of tenancy
• Tree removal and surgery — with council consent handled where needed
• Garden design — sketched on site at the first visit

Around the town

Chesham itself — the town centre, Waterside, Newtown, Hivings, Hilltop, Botley, Pond Park, Lye Green and Bois Moor Road — plus Chesham Bois, Chartridge, Asheridge, Ley Hill, Whelpley Hill, Pednor and Ashley Green.

We’re over the hill in Berkhamsted most weeks, and regularly in Hemel Hempstead and Amersham.

How we work

• Free site visit. We walk the garden with you, talk it through, sketch a rough plan on the spot and take measurements
• Detailed written quotation within 48 hours. Itemised, so you can see what each part costs and leave out anything you’d rather not do yet
• We build it on agreed dates, with our own team doing the clearing, groundwork and construction
• Everything goes. We’re licensed waste carriers, so the spoil and arisings leave legally and the paperwork exists

We don’t put prices on the website. The same job on a flat plot with a drive to the back, and on a sloping garden you can only reach through the house, are genuinely different jobs — any figure here would be a guess. The visit is free and gets you a real number.

Common questions

QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED

How local are you to Chesham?

Our yard is at Cholesbury, about ten minutes up the road, and Chesham is one of our busiest patches. A good share of our work is within a couple of miles of the High Street, which is why we can usually get out to look at something quickly.

My garden is on a steep slope. Can you do anything with it?

Yes, and it usually finishes better than a flat garden. The answer is terracing — two or three levels with a retaining wall and steps, so you get somewhere to actually sit rather than a bank of grass. The wall has to be built properly, with real foundations and drainage behind it; that is the part worth paying for.

There is no access round the side of my house. Does that rule things out?

No — it is normal for the terraces around Waterside and Newtown. It affects how long the job takes rather than whether it can be done. We board a route through the house and barrow what a machine cannot reach, and we work it out at the visit so the quote is the real price.

Is my tree protected?

It might well be. Chesham town centre is a conservation area, Chesham Bois has its own, and there are preservation orders on garden trees all over the town. Do not cut anything until it is checked — the offence and the fine land on you as the owner, not the contractor. We check with Buckinghamshire Council for free before quoting.

Why is digging so slow round here?

Flint. The chalk has a flinty clay cap over it on the higher ground, so footings, post holes and stump grinding all take longer than they would on clean ground. It is normal for Chesham and a fair quote accounts for it rather than adding it on later.

Do you charge to come and look?

No. The visit is free, you get a detailed written quotation within 48 hours, and nobody chases you afterwards.