Emily is right, patio might be better than decking. We stock wood effect porcelain tiles which can be used to create a decking effect without the maintenance of wood. We also sell 'pedestals' which can be used to create a raised patio, and the individual tiles can then also be removed to access drains etc. Check out the Valverdi range online here. Good luck!

rabbitingon, go for the way you would like it to look. There are many permutations of how either a patio, deck or a raised bed could be designed and implemented to ensure ease of access to the drains or anything else for that matter.

With regards to the materials, sleeper retaining walls for raised beds work well. For decking materials, you could do worse than recycled plastic with excellent non-slip properties. We have recently completed a project which uses both, take a look [via this link[(https://www.houzz.co.uk/projects/1243502/giles-new-garden).

Is that a driveway to the right of the picture? If so and depending upon the time and budget available to you, it may also help to have a diminishing retaining wall, applying it to the picture given, to the right of the extension. This would begin at the edge of the extension and fall in height as it extends away from it, whether in a line or stepped. So the raised bed, patio or decking would then be able to have a terraced effect leading away designed to step the height down to the current lawn level. The mind boggles with the possibilities.

I wish you well with it but please keep us informed. it looks like a fascinating challenge.

If you want decking go for composite decking. No maintenance and its none slip. Bit more expensive than wood but in the long run won't fall apart. We have just installed this and we love it.

@Amanda Shipman Designs, that's exactly how I would go about it. Except to use software to draw over with, deleting the background image when done. Rough outline at first, then once there are one or two ideas worthy of developing further, add more detail with pictures from different angles to get a real feel for how it will lay out in practice.

Sounds fussy? I can tell you as a practitioner that a few extra hours spent in the planning stage will save much sweat, many tears, several delays and a lot of wasted materials later. Or, if you pay somebody else to do the work, a significant amount of money.

Returning to the decking issue, I haven't tried composite as a material but would be happy to take a look. Hardwood and plastic (good quality stuff anyway) is more expensive than any of the "treated" softwood decking materials widely available but I can vouch for both. Recycled plastic has the added advantages of hygiene (simple wash off with plain water or gentle detergent gives a food quality surface), non-slip and the stuff we use has a 15 year guarantee.

have done similar with Freshscaped Ltd but used stones (cotswold buff) with plants in a pot. i'm more inclined to say do what they have done as it is a lot less maintenance than the decking if done correctly and also you will be standing on it a lot more than you think and solid footing by the main part of the house is always my option.

I suspect that that area of deck wouldn't get much sunshine during the day so once wet would stay that way for longer than normal Decking gets very slippery when wet like that. consider using synthetic decking Its easily available and laid in the same way as normal timber decking. The good thing with decking -especially when there is a good underspace - is that it allows air to circulate and there is a less of a problem with unwanted guests ( foxes cats mice rats) over staying their welcome.

This is identical to what we have, although we are southeast and get sun until about 3.30, never had a problem with slippery decking, make sure it's swept and we treat ours with decking oil every yeaR.

we squared our decking off level with the end of the decking although with hindsight I would have loved it to travel around the corner.

its a great place to enjoy breakfast at the weekend and we have a patio heater that seems to work well in the space as it is enclosed by 3 sides

Looking at the fall, I would use 3 levels and bring the decking right into the garden space with the last two.

The best single piece of advice I could give you about decking is to set it on plastic posts. They are costly but they will last indefinitely and you don't need more than 300mm in the ground, so not very long sections, set in concrete of course.

@pete_bon_9838, @brian_impey, synthetic = plastic in the sense you use it. Polymer. Stretchy molecules. Plastic is acceptable as a material these days, mainly because it has well proven properties in a wide range of applications across a variety of the polymers blessed by the expression.

Synthetic comes across more as, hum, well, synthetic? Pretend. Not substantial. Fly-by-night. Pixel imagery without substance maybe?

The best plastic decking manufacturer I am aware of uses the word plastic in its name and would not dream of using the word synthetic. Come to think of it, when describing anything of substance, neither would I.

Lecture over. 'night folks. :-)

I've seen it done in a friends house in Fulham and it has rubber texture and it looks very good and expensive which I'm sure it was. It does not a pretend to be wood or granite. Whatever you do rabbitingon I'm sure it will be good.