Millboard Composite Decking in Chorleywood

Chorleywood

A Millboard deck that became a complete garden

This Chorleywood project began with a new deck and developed into a coordinated garden, combining multilevel Millboard decking with layered planting, winding paths and a circular lawn.

The deck was the owners’ priority, but the surrounding space offered an opportunity to create more places to explore and enjoy. The finished scheme connects the contemporary house extension with a softer, planted landscape.

Steve and Rees design and professionally landscape gardens with that whole-space approach. Decking, access, planting and the details between them all contribute to the finished result.

Cantilevered decking with a floating appearance

The natural slope provided an opportunity for a cantilevered deck, with its leading edge appearing to float above the planting. A dark-painted substructure reduces its visibility, while lighting beneath the edge adds a warm glow after dark.

Several deck levels respond to the architecture of the house extension and help connect the property with the sloping garden.

Features like these depend on careful structural planning and construction. Steve and Rees consider the supporting framework, finished levels and board layout alongside the appearance of the deck.

A bespoke bronze-effect balustrade

A bronze-effect balustrade defines the changes in level while complementing the Millboard Limed Oak decking. Its slender metal elements allow views across the garden from the house.

The balustrade adds another material to the scheme without overwhelming it. Coordinating its position, connections and finish with the decking is an important part of delivering the detail.

Millboard Limed Oak, carefully integrated

The pale Limed Oak finish provides a clear contrast with the green planting around the platform. The deck gives the owners space to sit, entertain and enjoy the view of the garden.

Steve and Rees help homeowners consider decking materials alongside their appearance, maintenance needs and installation requirements. Care over supports, fixings, movement gaps and neatly finished edges contributes to a considered result.

Explore our decking design and installation service

Layered planting around the deck and lawn

Extending the scheme across the garden made previously overgrown areas more accessible. Established shrubs were retained where they contributed to the layout, with additional shrubs creating the green backdrop requested by the owners.

A green-and-white planting palette brings together ferns, grasses and predominantly white-flowering perennials and shrubs. These varied forms soften the deck’s architectural lines.

Evergreen ferns, Tiarella and Pachysandra sit beneath the leading edge, reinforcing its floating appearance. The planting connects the structure with the garden while contrasting with the pale decking.

A circular lawn reflects the owners’ enjoyment of Swingball and provides an open centre to the scheme. Its curved outline shapes the surrounding beds and creates a softer contrast with the deck.

Planting palette

Agapanthus africanus ‘Alba’
Alchemilla mollis
Allium amplectens ‘Graceful Beauty’
Asplenium scolopendrium ‘Cristatum’
Betula utilis ‘Jacquemontii’
Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
Cornus kousa ‘Venus’
Dicksonia antarctica
Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’
Euonymus alatus
Fatsia japonica
Heuchera ‘Lime Marmalade’
Hosta ‘A Touch of Class’
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Fireworks’
Osmunda regalis
Photinia × fraseri ‘Red Robin’
Salvia nemorosa ‘Bumblesnow’
Trachelospermum jasminoides
Viburnum davidii
Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’

Paths that connect the different spaces

A self-binding gravel path winds through the planting, linking the different areas and encouraging the owners to explore the whole garden.

In one corner, the path opens into a seating area with a fire pit. From here, the owners can look back towards the deck and enjoy the relationship between its levels, planting and the house.

Steve and Rees consider these views and routes when planning a garden, helping individual features become parts of a connected landscape.

Project details

Location: Chorleywood
Completed: 2021
Decking: Millboard Limed Oak
Client: private homeowner
Materials and plant suppliers: Millboard, Country Supplies, CED, Babylon Plants, Joseph Rochford Gardens and Riverside Nursery

Discuss your decking and garden with Steve and Rees

If you are considering Millboard decking in Chorleywood or a wider garden transformation, Steve and Rees can help you explore what will suit your property.

We design and professionally landscape gardens, combining creative ideas with practical construction knowledge and care over the finish. Tell us how you would like to use your garden, what matters to you and the budget you have in mind.

Discuss your garden project with Steve and Rees

Garden design: Karl Harrison.

Our approach

We believe a well-designed garden should be a pleasure to live in, thoughtfully built and made to last.

For us, good design starts with listening. We take time to understand how you want to use your garden, what matters to you and the character of your home.

We bring the same care to construction as we do to design. From the preparation beneath a patio to the finishing details around a border, each part contributes to the quality of the whole garden.

We favour materials suited to their purpose and planting that can thrive in its surroundings. We consider how your garden will mature and how much maintenance you want, creating a space you can enjoy for years to come.

Steve & Rees

Throughout the process he and his team have worked tirelessly to ensure we received the best design, consideration and implementation of our brief.

As a landscaper, he is a professional and did a brilliant job and completed when he said he would in a calm and measured way.

Steve and Rees worked hard in all weathers, to create a beautiful garden for us. I would highly recommend Karl and his team to create some magical for you, and to do it really well.

Rees came up with an imaginative design that has brought interest, variety and colour. The landscaping Steve, Rees and their team did was excellent and they were a pleasure to work with too.

Steve and his team were skilled and friendly, and the results were amazing. They were professional and always left things tidy. Would highly recommend.

Fast efficient service from a passionate professional who puts his competitors to shame. Excellent work at reasonable prices. You’d be mad not to use him.

What a professional garden landscape artist does is give you something that you would never do yourself. Highly recommended.

All the team were exceptionally professional, hardworking, polite and tidy. We are thrilled with the results and thoroughly recommend this business.

I could not have wished for better. I would recommend Rees, Steve and their team to you all. I could not fault them in any way and it was an absolute pleasure to work with them.

Very efficient team, hard workers and really nice people too! Great job with a really uniform finish on a complex-shaped deck. Neat workers, clearing up each evening, and finally leaving my garden and garage in perfect order.

From start to finish-excellent service and he has transformed my garden. I’m now in love with my garden and will be spending many happy hours out there.Before and After pictures - excellent transformation

Very professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. Great design and helpful discussions, making sure we got the best results. Would not hesitate to recommend.

Steve & Rees did an excellent job. From initial design considerations to preparation and installation. The team worked well and on time to transform our garden with Trex decking.

See how we can help you...

We adapt to the needs of every client, fluent in a combination of traditional techniques ensuring the hard landscaping works in harmony with the soft planting, garden art and style in your garden.