LANDSCAPER IN TRING

Tring sits in the gap through the Chilterns, with the escarpment rising steeply behind it and the Vale of Aylesbury opening out flat to the north. Our yard at Cholesbury is on the hill above the town, so we are up and down that road constantly.

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 beech taking down, the ground levelling and a terrace putting in is one team and one price, not three.

Two completely different sets of ground

South and above the town — chalk and wind

Everything from the town up towards Wigginton, Hastoe and Tring Park is chalk with a flinty clay cap. Free-draining, alkaline, and often only a few inches of soil before you are into solid chalk. Lawns up here brown off in the first dry spell unless there is a real depth of imported topsoil under them, and digging is slow because of the flint.

The other thing about the high ground is exposure. Wigginton and Hastoe are on some of the highest ground in Hertfordshire, and gardens up there get wind that gardens in the town simply do not. It matters for fencing — a solid panel fence on an exposed boundary is a sail, and it is what ends up in the road after a gale. We use heavier posts up there, and often a hit-and-miss panel that lets the wind through instead of fighting it.

North of the town — heavier ground

Drop down towards Wilstone, Long Marston and Puttenham and you come off the chalk onto the heavier ground of the Vale. Wetter, slower to drain, and the water table near the reservoirs is high. Gardens out that way need drainage thought about before anything else — a patio laid to a fall with nowhere for the water to go is just a slower puddle.

It is a genuinely different set of problems within three miles, and it is why a quote for a Wilstone garden and a quote for a Hastoe garden should not look the same.

The old town and the trees

Tring has a conservation area covering the High Street, Akeman Street, Frogmore Street and much of the older centre, with a good deal of flint and brick and a fair number of listed buildings. Two things follow from that.

First, protected trees. Beyond the conservation area there are Tree Preservation Orders on a great many garden trees — particularly the big beech, lime and cedar left over from the Rothschild estate planting, which are now sitting in ordinary back gardens. Permission comes from Dacorum Borough Council and takes six to eight weeks. We check before quoting and write the application ourselves — see protected trees.

Second, listed buildings. If your house is listed, a garden wall attached to it, or a structure within its curtilage, can need listed building consent in its own right — separate from planning. It catches people out. We will tell you at the visit if yours is a case that needs checking rather than building it and finding out afterwards.

Access

The terraces and cottages around the town centre mostly have no side access, so everything goes through the house — boards and sheeting down, and hand-barrowing. Out at Wilstone, Long Marston, Aldbury and up at Wigginton the plots are bigger and a machine can usually get round, so those jobs run quicker and cost less per square metre.

What we do here

• Patios and paving
• Retaining and garden walls
• Driveways
• Fencing
• Turfing and new lawns
• Garden clearance
• Tree removal and surgery
• Hedge trimming
• Garden design

Around the town

Tring itself — the High Street and the old centre, Miswell Lane, Icknield Way, Grove Road, Western Road, Dundale Road and the Aylesbury Road side — plus Wilstone, Long Marston, Puttenham, Aldbury, Wigginton, Hastoe, Bulbourne and Cholesbury, where our yard is.

We work constantly in Berkhamsted just down the valley, and in Hemel Hempstead and Chesham.

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 Tring?

Our yard is at Cholesbury, about four miles up the hill, so we are on that road most days. Tring and the villages around it are firmly in our patch rather than the edge of it.

Why does my lawn burn off every summer?

If you are on the high ground — the town side of Wigginton, Hastoe, up towards Tring Park — it is almost certainly because there are only a few inches of soil over solid chalk. The grass has nothing to root into and no moisture reserve. Relaying onto a proper depth of imported topsoil fixes it permanently; watering more does not.

My garden out towards Wilstone is soaking wet all winter. Why?

You have come off the chalk. North of the town the ground is heavier and the water table near the reservoirs is high, so water sits rather than draining away. That is a drainage job first — a land drain or soakaway — and a landscaping job second. Doing it the other way round wastes your money.

My fence keeps blowing down. Is that normal up here?

On the high ground, yes, and it is fixable. Wigginton and Hastoe are among the most exposed spots in Hertfordshire and a solid panel fence acts as a sail. Heavier posts set deeper, and a hit-and-miss panel that lets the wind through rather than catching it, makes the difference.

There is a big old beech in my garden. Can I have it reduced?

Very possibly, but check first — there are preservation orders on a lot of the mature trees around Tring, including plenty of the old estate planting now sitting in ordinary gardens. Permission comes from Dacorum and takes six to eight weeks. We check for free before quoting and write the application ourselves. Councils approve sensible reduction far more readily than felling.

My house is listed. Does that affect the garden?

It can. A wall attached to a listed building, or a structure within its curtilage, may need listed building consent in its own right on top of anything else. It is a real trap and the penalties are serious. We will flag it at the visit if yours is a case worth checking.