Wow that is an amazing garden and view. A pergola is a good idea to add a feature but for a more serviceable structure you could opt for a patio roof or garden roof. These aluminium roofs contain fully automated louvres so you can control whether your relaxation space is sunny of shaded depending on the day. Another plus for the UK is that these roofs become watertight when the louvres are flat so you can use your outdoor space, and appreciate that view no matter the weather. Let me know if you have any questions www.umbris,uk

You should be able to guide a Garden Designer to what level of design you want from a consultation. It is worth considering that Designers will be able to offer different levels of planning, such as with all the materials and planting specified or just as an overall layout. I offer initial consultations where I go into a description of a concept, as well as my understanding of what my client wants. Then I add some specific pointers and advice. My quote for further design work is tailored to what they have asked and/or what I believe they need. As has been hinted at above it sounds like you need a Masterplan, that is a general layout for the whole area and then perhaps more detail for the an area closest to the house. Most Designers would be very happy to come back in later years and work out the detail of other areas in the future or you may be confident later to do some or all of that yourself. Some Designers will also be willing to help you by visiting on an hourly basis to assist in how to get the garden made.

Hi dahlia444 In answer to your 3 questions (very quick answer) 1. Simple solutions - paint the fence a grey colour - it makes it soothing and helps it disappear into the background. The orange colour now is very over-powering. New paving, properly laid would make it feel a lot better - top (and bottom of the garden potentially). Think of ways of breaking the space up on the patio - rather than everything being around the edge; and similarly for the garden - currently you look straight down it with nothing of interest and to break up what you are seeing. Stories, journeys and a bit of mystery all make for a great garden (don't be afraid to put things in the middle or have wide curved beds). 2. Cost is difficult because it depends what you do and what materials you use. As with many things - to an extent, the more you can spend the better. Hard-scaping is the most expensive - for example paving costs about £200-250 per square meter (includes the paving and the laying). You could easily spend £10k on the garden, but obviously you may be able to make a big impact for less. Employing a contractor is more expensive of course, but if you do stuff yourself make sure you do it properly - for instance laying paving on a proper sub-base with appropriate drainage; otherwise it will quickly look terrible and start to move. If you do hire a contractor make sure you get a good one - generally beware of the 'general builder' who does a cheap deal. Contractors who are registered with the APL or BALI are generally very good. 3. A garden designer would be great and will get you a really nice, cohesive design with plants that will do well in your garden. Again check the quality of their work - are they registered with the SGD? where did they train? what are their design skills (rather than just being a good gardener)? have they ever done a show garden? Charges vary a lot, but a good designer will charge overall around 10-12% of what the garden will cost. On these grounds, the size of your budget is important. If you only have £3-5k to spend then you don't really want to spend a big chunk on a designer. Obviously you can invest in a good design and then implement it in stages over a number of years if money is tight. Hope that helps.

Hi Tim & Mark, I feel your pain on this - especially those essential little clues you get from the dimensional survey. I don't think there's an easy answer, other than 'interrogating' the client for more detail! For example, recently I was working remotely on feasibility for a project where 2 walls were to be removed; no dimensional survey at this stage but I had a fair idea of the house type so had sketched it out to get a rough idea in front of me. When talking with the client by video I asked her to get the camera into the roofspace to show the roof structure, spans, purlins etc to confirm my suspicions that both walls were supporting, and just what they were supporting. This alone allowed the feasibility discussion to move in the best direction, given that the construction budget was too tight to allow for the necessary structural work in removing both walls. In broader terms, the simple answer for how to get the survey done is to glean all the information you can to make an 'educated guess' as to the house layout (from external photos, etc), then draw this out for the client to add dimensions to. It's often a very iterative process whereby you might get the external walls, windows, doors, etc but find that something internally isn't quite right - so back to the client by email / video / etc for photos / dimensions of a specific area until it all makes sense. In simpler jobs the detail in a specific area might be sufficient (eg the effected areas for a kitchen extension to bungalow with just a knock-through and roof junctions), while for other jobs we've gotten to an agreed feasibility design using the client's dimensions and then I've gone to site (Majorca, Henley, etc) to conduct the full dimensional survey for detailed design (obviously under different circumstances from today!). I don't think there's any doubt that remote design suits the feasibility stages better than the detailed stages, but if it makes a connection with clients, and is helpful to them, without incurring expensive travel, or breaking lock-down, then it can be quite useful. Although as I said above, for me nothing beats personal face-to-face contact. Hope this helps.