Insideout Home and Garden Improvements Ltd

11/03/2026

Project Reflections – Part 2

After understanding the site and the many challenges it presented, the next stage was to develop a design that could turn those problems into opportunities.

Working alongside designer Dave Negus, we began exploring how the garden could be reshaped to better connect the house, the landscape, and the lake itself.

The design needed to achieve several things at once.

• Create clear circulation routes throughout the garden
• Allow the family to enjoy the space all year round
• Make the most of the beautiful lakeside position and Wild life whilst maintaining and increasing habitat's.
• Work with the existing levels and topography
• Carefully navigate the drains, tree roots and challenging soils beneath the surface and increase the drainage capabilities where ever possible.

Rather than fighting the site, the design needed to work with the existing landscape. This meant carefully studying the levels, understanding how water moved across the garden, and developing a layout that allowed people to move through the space easily without disturbing the delicate balance of the lakeside environment, trees and Wildlife.

The result was a design that combined practical engineering with thoughtful landscape architecture, creating a series of spaces that gradually draw you down one of two stone staircases, through the garden towards the lake and large Millboard composite deck, back round and out through a separate stone staircase. Different zones were created, enabling the clients and family to really enjoy the different areas in the gardens whilst being immersed in such a special Wildlife rich setting.

Design drawings are where imagination meets reality, but as anyone involved in landscape design and construction knows, a drawing is only the beginning.

In the next post, I’ll show what it actually takes to build a garden like this and what lies beneath the finished surfaces.

Association of Professional Landscapers
Society of Garden + Landscape Designers
The London College of Garden Design
British Association of Landscape Industries
Haywards Heath Business Association

11/03/2026

11/03/2026

Project Reflections – Part 1 The Site.

Every great garden transformation begins with a moment of possibility.

This was the view when we first visited our client’s property in 2022, overlooking a beautiful shared lake. Although the setting was stunning, the garden itself wasn’t working for the family. It felt shaded, disconnected, and difficult to move around without ending up with muddy boots.

Our brief was simple in principle, but ambitious in reality:

• Make better use of the lake setting
• Create a family-friendly garden for entertaining and relaxing
• Allow easy movement through the garden in all seasons

Working alongside designer Dave Negus, we began developing a concept that would completely rethink how the garden functioned and connected with the lake.

What looks like a simple lakeside garden turned out to be one of the most technically challenging projects we’ve ever built.

Challenging levels.
Topography nightmares
Complex heavy clay soils.
Horrific Weather 2022-2024
Over 13 drains crossing the site.
Significant drainage issues.
Tree roots everywhere.
And a lakeside environment constantly influenced by mother nature.

Before any Landscaping could take place, this project demanded significant design, engineering, groundworks, and careful material planning.

These photographs show the garden exactly as we found it.

In the next post, I’ll share how the design concept evolved and how we started turning these challenges into opportunities.

Follow along as we take this project from first visit to what became a multi award-winning garden.

Association of Professional Landscapers
Society of Garden + Landscape Designers
The London College of Garden Design
British Association of Landscape Industries
Haywards Heath Business Association

11/03/2026

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reflecting on the response to the recent Horticultural Week podcast on neurodiversity I did with two industry colleagues, Craig Nester and Gareth Wilson.

The feedback from the neurodiversity podcast has genuinely taken me by surprise.

Recently, whilst on a Society of Garden & Landscape Designers tour of Nyman’s, a number of industry colleagues quietly came up to me during the day just to say thank you for bringing the conversation out into the open within horticulture.

I’ve also seen some really interesting discussions popping up in industry WhatsApp groups too.

Moments like that are incredibly encouraging, but something else happened last week that really stayed with me.

I received a call from someone in the industry I’ve never actually met. He said he had listened to about fifteen minutes of the podcast on his drive home and had to pause it because something in the conversation struck such a chord. It made him quite emotional and he needed a moment to process what he’d just heard.

When he arrived home, his wife asked if he was okay. His response was that he’d just realised something really important about himself, that he believed he had ADHD, and suddenly a lot of things in his life started to make sense.

Hearing that genuinely gave me shivers.

What this feedback is showing is that there are many people across horticulture quietly navigating neurodiversity, sometimes without realising it, and sometimes without feeling able to talk about it openly, even with family or colleagues.

If this podcast helps even a few people understand themselves a little better, then it has already done something worthwhile.

If you haven’t listened yet, please do. And if it resonates with you, feel free to reach out to Craig, Gareth or myself.

Organisations such as Perennial - Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society are also keen to hear from people who may want to share their experiences so that, as an industry, we can better support one another.

In the mean-time, the sun is shining, if you can, get outside and enjoy a little bit of it.

https://www.hortweek.com/hortweek-podcast-adhd-landscaping-horticulture-paul-greenyer-gareth-wilson-craig-nester/landscape/article/1948683

Association of Professional Landscapers
Society of Garden + Landscape Designers
British Association of Landscape Industries
Haywards Heath Business Association
RHS - Royal Horticultural Society
The London College of Garden Design

06/03/2026

Some significant Industry changes to embrace this year, and no doubt challenges to overcome, but after investing multiple failures in bound, and unbound paving installations over the past 5 years, the new BS7533-102 is a welcome step forward.

These new British Standards are built on proven solutions already being used in the commercial sector and all new installations in 2026 should be based around these new industry recommendations.

These new standards should be considered, understood and implemented in all new installations. Both contractors and clients should benefit in the long term as will the environment.

If if you have any questions, please feel to get in contact or DM me, happy to help explain where i can.



Association of Professional Landscapers
Society of Garden + Landscape Designers
British Association of Landscape Industries
The London College of Garden Design
Trading Standards Approved

Leading landscape and garden design organisations have come together to agree a coordinated, industry-wide approach to supporting the implementation of the new British Standard BS 7533-102!
Representatives from the APL, British Association of Landscape Industries , Landscape Institute and Society of Garden and Landscape Designers met to discuss how the industry can work together to help members, educators and the wider landscape sector understand and adopt the Standard effectively.
You can read more in our press release below:
https://hta.org.uk/news/apl-and-other-industry-bodies-agree-on-a-unified-approach-to-support-a-new-landscaping-standard

05/03/2026

Nice

15/01/2026

Laura Greenyer

15/01/2026

Laura

12/01/2026

Proud to support our local community this Christmas 🎄

It was a pleasure to help St Peter & St James Hospice in Chailey, West Sussex with their annual Christmas tree collection. As a self-funding hospice, they need to raise around £6.3 million each year, equating to roughly £19,500 every single day to continue their vital work, for local families and community.

A huge thank you in particular to Robin Walden from The Seasons Forest Row, who was more than happy to give me a hand. Together, lots of giant trees were collected by our small team, contributing to an estimated £29,000 raised overall by the incredible group of volunteers out across the Sussex area on Saturday.

We even managed to take a short lunch break and a beautiful woodland walk through their peaceful grounds. There's something about forest bathing, that rejuvenates the soul.

Always happy to give back and support projects that truly matter.

Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead. Big Love.

12/12/2025

What an absolutely superb week of industry events, from the Association of Professional Landscapers Guildford cluster meeting, to the Surrey Garden Design Group's Christmas get-together, and finishing the week of last night, with the Haywards Heath APL Cluster.

One thing that never fails to impress is the camaraderie within our professional associations.

The shared expertise, the willingness to help one another, and the sheer depth of industry knowledge genuinely makes a difference to the standard of work we all deliver.

For homeowners, this is exactly why choosing a professional contractor or designer who is part of an accredited association matters.

It brings accountability, technical competency, and a shared commitment to raising standards across the industry.

If you’re planning a garden project in 2026, ask yourself: “Is my contractor or designer a member of a recognised professional association”?

It could be the difference between a great project… and well… let’s leave that there!

Wishing everyone a brilliant Friday and a well-earned weekend!

Surrey Garden Design Group
The London College of Garden Design
Society of Garden + Landscape Designers
Bradstone
Haywards Heath Business Association
Decking Network
Perennial - Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society