Hi Vanessa, I have written a few blogs with advice about planting for pollinators on my web-site ,Greenwave Design. The main thing would be to reduce the size of your lawn, which is not a very wildlife friendly feature, and put in more trees, shrubs and perennial plants. Wildlife need places to live as well as food so lots of places to shelter in the garden will be helpful. Pollinators want flowers that they can sip nectar from for as long a period as possible. So flowers need to start early, with bulbs such as snowdrops and crocus, and carry on for as long as possible. Another great wildlife friendly feature is a pond, or at the very least a birdbath. If you do put in a pond it needs to have shallow, sloping sides so that wildlife can get in and out easily. There is lots of good advice on the Wild about Gardens web-site.

Love the frontage of your cottage. That wall is adorable! You have a couple of shrubs there already. Do you know what they are? There are some great low growing plants that need very little work once they are established. As well as T Gray‘s suggestions, you could also add Aubretia which is a low growing plant that has gorgeous purple flowers in spring. It’s very common and available everywhere. Campanula is a blue flower that cascades in summer (some are tall so read the labels). Another flower is Erigeron, again it spreads and is low growing with quite large purple daisy like flowers in the summer. My favourite is Geranium - they come in a huge array of colours and various heights so check those before buying. They flower in the summer. Don’t forget daffodils, such a ray of sunshine in the spring. They can be planted in the autumn. A lawn is a great idea - relatively cheap to lay too. I think the best way to have a low maintenance garden is to stick with trees and shrubs which dont need too much fussing with. Trees can be pricey, but so many places sell shrubs, not just garden centres, such as nurseries,, supermarkets and even car boot sales! AUBRETIA CAMPANULA ERIGERON GERANIUM ROZANNE

These guys are in Kent and it looks as if they work all over the country although it looks like a design and build service rather than just design https://www.buildajapanesegarden.com/portfolio/ There is also this guy, the website is Spanish but it looks as if he's still London based https://www.houzz.co.uk/pro/webuser-260984/the-japanese-garden Or as Sonia said just look at local designers. I'm sure like interior designers they can adapt to any style??

Hi, we've recently purchased a new build house and we're struggling a bit with how to configure the garden due to the way it slopes. It's essentially just a 10m x 10m square at the moment with a few squares of pavement, and a slope from the top left towards the house and to the right fence. (see pics) We're trying to work with the level as much as possible to reduce the cost of levelling, and we're thinking of a deck in the top right (sunspot), and a raised lawn in the top left, with some steps and sleeper beds / steps around the garden to support it. (see drawing) Does anyone with any garden experience have any thoughts on how feasible something like this would be and how much it would roughly cost? Or any alternative ideas for the garden? We have a dog so a lawn is essential, and a deck or patio in the top right is pretty much a given for us. Any ideas/design tips would really be appreciated! We're looking for something quite modern, ideally with levels to create interest and reduce the levelling costs (if this even achieves that?)