Densole - Good Progress is Being Made

The summerhouse base is being laid using Raj Green Indian Sandstone

The pathway being laid using Indian Sandstone cobbles

Work in Densole is progressing well with both the summerhouse base and the pathway now taking shape.
Raj Green Indian Sandstone is being used for both.

This job should be completed within the next couple of days, nicely in time for the delivery of the summerhouse.

New Job in Densole

The white line denotes the route the new path will take

Starting the groundworks for a paved summerhouse base

We have this week also started work on a small job in Densole, Kent. We will be creating a pathway and a base for a summerhouse, from initial groundworks to final paving.

Check back to see the works develop.

Lyminge - All Over Bar the Electrics!

The new front driveway and planting beds 

Raised beds, Raj Green Sandstone paving and Venetian style screens

With this job now complete apart from some electrical work, I wanted to bring you a couple of final pictures.

The top image shows the front of the house including the new In/Out driveway and the completely re-designed planting areas. The changes have really opened up the space at the front of the property providing a lighter, friendlier and more welcoming feel.

The lower image shows a number of newly installed features to the rear of the property. Raised planting beds created using treated softwood sleepers, the extended Raj Green Sandstone paving (which provides a nice contrast with the beds) and two Venetian Style screens made in our new joinery.

Old Wives Lees - An update

The planted turning circle in Old Wives Lees

A chance came up to re-visit an older project (if the start of the year can be considered older) so we thought that we would treat our readers to a new picture.

The project in Old Wives Lees was a big success with many interesting elements to it, however, we have to congratulate our clients who have planted out the turning circle in the driveway. We think it looks fantastic with a beautiful armillary sundial centre piece and planting which will mature over the coming seasons.

Lyminge - Finishing up

The new in/out drive in Lyminge ready to be compacted

As a  new week starts, we approach the end of our project in Lyminge.

The picture above shows the new in/out driveway, with the gravel laid awaiting compaction. You can also see the new planting bed which nicely finishes off the front of this property.

With only a few minor tasks to complete on this project we will be out of the clients' way by the end of tomorrow morning.

Hockley Sole and Sir Aston Webb

Sir Aston Webb

The Sun Terrace at Hockley Sole

Following on from our post regarding Sir Edwin Lutyens, we thought our readers might be interested to know that we have previously worked on a project at Hockley Sole, a property designed by Sir Aston Webb.

Aston Webb was a leading architect at the end of the 19th Century and the start of the 20th. Responsible for many prestigious works including the re-design of the principle facade at Buckingham Palace, the Queen Victoria Memorial and the main building of the Victoria and Albert museum in London.

Orchard Priory have undertaken a number of tasks at Hockley Sole, most notably the rebuilding of the Sun Terrace, pictured above, which was carried out using as many of the original materials as could be reclaimed.

Lyminge - Site Maintenance and Stockpiling

Timber, Topsoil, large and small Hardcore stockpiled on site

It is somewhat suprising just how much waste (spoil) is created in even the smallest landscaping project. Some of what is created can be re-used but a large proportion has to be removed from site, often before the team can progress to the next element of the job.

We are installing a new driveway at our project in Lyminge but as the picture above shows, there is the matter of some spoil causing an obstruction.

We will be able to use some of the hardcore, both large and small, in the sub-base layer of the drive but the timber, topsoil and whatever hardcore is not needed will have to be removed. Thankfully, this should all be gone by the end of today.

Orchard Priory to work on a Lutyens property

A Portrait of Sir Edwin Lanseer Lutyens

Orchard Priory is delighted to have received confirmation that we will have the opportunity to work on the garden of a property designed by arguably Britain's finest architect; Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Known for imaginatively taking traditional architectural styles and adapting them to the requirements of the times, Lutyens worked on many prestige projects from large country houses to commercial buildings, monuments and cathedrals.

Arguably his finest achievement however was the redevelopment of an area of Delhi, India, which came to be known as New Delhi (and locally as Lutyens Delhi).

To be given the chance to work on a Lutyens garden has to be amongst the most rewarding opportunities for any landscaping firm and we are very much looking forward to the commencement of this project.

Lyminge - At last! A dry day for pointing

The guys on site have been waiting for about a week for decent weather and finally, we have had a good morning and the pointing has been completed by lunch time.

The pointing has been finished by hand, as it gives the overall product a much longer life span.  Using a 3:1 ratio of sand to cement mortar, the mix is pressed into the joints with a flat pointing iron and the excess is swept off.

Well done guys, still on target under poor weather conditions.

Joinery Products - Cedar Gates

Further to my post on Friday, I will be bringing you some more pictures of the various products we are now able to offer via our joinery.

Orchard Priory is delighted to be able to create garden joinery products ourselves as it means that we can maintain control over the material that we use, the construction methods employed and the all round quality of the final product offered.

Above you can see a beautiful cedar driveway gate. This is one of a pair (the other is behind it) which we hope to install within the next couple of weeks, I will look to show you some images of the gates once they have been fitted.

Joinery Products - Made by our own fair hands!

Orchard Priory are now able to provide a range of products for your grounds and garden, from gates to planters, screens to trellising to garden furniture.

We now fabricate these pieces ourselves so that our clients can enjoy beautiful, handcrafted and often bespoke designs.

The image above shows a venetian style, louvered garden screen which, installed in the correct location, will provide some welcome shade, beautiful shadows and a stylish, contemporary look.

Lyminge - Picture Framed!

The Orchard Priory landscaping team are really making progress at the project in Lyminge.

The picture above shows the rear garden patio with a 'picture frame' edge now in place and ready for pointing.

Work is continuing all around the house with preparation for the new driveway, a raised vegetable bed, steps to the back door and up to the patio from the lawn.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some further images to show you.

Easter Monday at the Aldington Point to Point

Welcome back, we hope you had a good Easter and enjoyed the long weekend.

As advised last week, Easter Monday saw Orchard Priory at the Aldington Point to Point as Gold Sponsors of the event.

We were in attendance within the sponsors hospitality tent where we had some of our designs (and photographs of our gardens) for any interested parties to have a look at.  We had a good day at the event and would like to thank the organisers and the representatives from Foxwood Maclean, the main event sponsors, for their welcome, assistance and hospitality.

The photo above shows Ross Gandon, owner and managing director of Orchard Priory, with our table in the sponsors' tent.

See you at the Aldington Point to Point?

Well, that's it. It is Good Friday tomorrow.

We hope the weather does not interfere with whatever plans you have and that you enjoy the long weekend.

If you do attend the Aldington Point to Point on Easter Monday then please do come and say hello. You will find us in the Sponsors Tent.

A Very Happy Easter from all the team at Orchard Priory.

Lyminge - You cant get in the way of progress

We continue to make good progress with this project as the image above shows. This picture was taken first thing this morning before our site team started work and shows the progress made on the patio over the course of yesterday.

We would envisage the patio paving being completed today while work is also due to be started on the front of the property.

Lyminge - Laying the paving

Wednesday morning is upon us and our landscaping team on site in Lyminge are right on schedule. The image above shows site manager, Mark Prentice, laying the paving for this new rear garden patio.

You can see the cobble edging in place, this will strengthen the edge of the patio and also provide the riser for steps down to the lawn.  The foundation material has been laid enabling the paving to be installed.

Lyminge - Preparing the groundworks for the patio

As you can see from the picture above, we have started the groundworks for the rear patio at our latest job in Lyminge.  Once the groundworks are complete, we will be installing a cobble edging and the foundation materials prior to laying the paving stones themselves.

Tomorrow, we hope to be able to show you the first of the paving going down so please do come back to see if progress on site matches our aspirations for this project.

Our latest Job - Lyminge

Today sees the start of another new project for Orchard Priory.  This latest job is in Lyminge, Kent and, while not a complete garden re-design, it does involve the installation of a new rear patio and utility side garden, a new in/out driveway to the front of the property to replace the existing single entrance drive and some new planting.

We are looking forward to showing you our progress over the next few weeks.

Sandwich - The finished mixed media wall

As we approach the end of our small project in Sandwich, we are pleased to be able show you the finished mixed media wall. As you can see, the wall includes various bricks, clay tiles and flint and is finished with a soldier course coping of yellow stock bricks.

We have jet cleaned the existing paving and re-laid an area of paving around the wall for a complete finish.

A Day at the Races!

Orchard Priory is delighted to announce that we will be attending East Kent's 'Aldington Point to Point' on Monday 1st April.

We will be at this popular horse racing event as Gold Sponsors so why not stop by the main tent to say hello?

To view the google map for the location please click  here.  For more information about the event please visit the Point to Point Racing Company website here.

Also, look out for us in the Race Day Programme!

Sandwich - In Just a Short Time...

The first day of work at our new Sandwich project has seen the team stripping out the old decked seating area.

The top picture above shows a view of the decking prior to removal while the lower image shows the garden at the end of the first day. You can see from this shot that all the decking has been removed and the materials are on site for the building of the new wall.

Garden Makeover in Sandwich

We have today started work on a small garden makeover in Sandwich, Kent.

The picture above shows a decked seating area which we will be replacing with a mixed media wall with raised gravel flowerbeds.

Demolition has started as you can see with Mark Prentice, our site manager, breaking down the decking for removal from the site.

We will be jet washing the paving prior to the building of the replacement wall.

The project will also involve the installation of a bespoke made chicken coop and lattice style trellis panels.

Old Wives Lees - ... as this project nears completion

Our time at Old Wives Lees is nearly done with only a few minor jobs remaining. We expect to finish here shortly although we will be returning within a few weeks to install gates and fencing to the property.

The picture above shows the 2-Bay Oak Car Barn which has now been clad with Oak.

As you can see from the picture, there is still a heavy frost on the ground. This combined with the very cold wind has made for a chilly time on site but at least today the sun is shining!

It's Snow Joke!

Well, the weather here in East Kent was fun yesterday (Monday March 11th). While our team on site at Old Wives Lees were cold but otherwise suffering no inconvenience, our office in Capel-le-Ferne was sat in blizzard-like conditions all day long.

By 4pm roads were being shut due to drifting snow, high wind and ice. We all had good fun trying to get either back to the yard or home to our families.

The picture above, taken today, shows our Tipper Truck abandoned as it tried to get back to the yard. To be honest, the driver did well to get it this far (this is a back way to our yard across the farm) as all the surrounding roads were closed!

We hope that all of our clients and blog followers are well and did not suffer too much from the bad weather.

Orchard Priory - Design Services

Orchard Priory offers comprehensive and high quality design services alongside our landscape construction works.

Rupert Davis CMLI (Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute) is responsible for the design side of the business and can be seen in the picture above working on the sketch design for a 2 bay Oak Car Barn.

Old Wives Lees - Turfing the Amphitheatre

Today has seen turf being laid on the amphitheatre in the side garden at Old Wives Lees. The picture above shows site manager, Mark Prentice, tamping down the turf.

We will bring you some shots of the finished amphitheatre next week, hopefully with some sunshine rather than the thick fog we had today!

Old Wives Lees - We love seeing the boss at work

Cladding the 2-Bay Oak Car Barn is the order of the day today, so much so in fact that even Orchard Priory's Managing Director, Ross Gandon, is on site to help out.

The cladding is the final stage of the Car Barn and the aim is to have it completed by the end of this week.

Old Wives Lees - Granite Cobble Bellmouth completed

Another day of pleasant sunshine has seen the drive bell-mouth completed with the pointing being finished, by hand, to various depths for an authentic, aged appearance.

The photo above shows the bell-mouth and you can also see the car barn which now just needs the cladding installed to finish it off.

Old Wives Lees - Finally some sunshine!

Finally, a day with some sunshine. There was a definite sense of relief on site this morning, perhaps it wouldn't rain, perhaps hands would not be numb before the morning tea break!

Well, the sunshine has witnessed a very productive day at Old Wives Lees. We have now completed the installation of the reclaimed nib tile roof on the 2-Bay Oak Car Barn (as you can see in the top picture, above) and also finished work on a small, hand knapped, flint wall at the rear of the Oak Car Barn. This wall was required to  match into an existing wall (which you can see on the left of the lower picture, above). Whilst it is clear at present that the new section of wall is just that, in time it will weather down nicely and match into its surroundings.

We love compliments like these!

We received an email on the 11th February from our clients whose landscaping project in Old Wives Lees we are currently working on. We thought we would share it:

Dear Ross,

We just had to email you to say how delighted and impressed we are with your crew.

We drew the curtains this morning, saw plenty of snow, and thought "oh well, no works today" at which point Mark drew up in his van!

The conditions under foot were really horrible, deep wet clay and freezing cold, and yet such progress in spite of it all.

Please pass on our admiration and thanks. What a great team!

We very much appreciate receiving comments such as this. We take great pride in the work that we carry out and the service we provide to our clients so it is always nice to hear that we are performing in line with the values we believe in.

Ross would like to pass on his own thanks and appreciation to the team on site for all of their hard work and commitment.

Old Wives Lees - Tiling the Roof

As we enter the final day of February, our team are to be found at the project in Old Wives Lees putting the tile roof onto the new 2-Bay Oak Car Barn. This particular job, whilst time consuming, will set the look and feel of the Car Barn.

We are installing reclaimed Kentish Nib Tiles for an authentic and traditional appearance.

Old Wives Lees - Creating an Amphitheatre

Work continues on the side garden area of the Old Wives Lees project. This was not a part of the original booked works but is now going to become an integral feature of this garden with the creation of a tiered amphitheatre garden. 

The amphitheatre formed a part of our original design and we are delighted that we now have the chance to implement this feature.

Old Wives Lees - Side Garden Steps

The Old Wives Lees project has seen a number of additional items and area's added to the specification. The side garden was a part of the original Orchard Priory design but was not included in the main contract.

The remit for the side garden is to create a much improved vista from the east side of the house while including steps to provide access to the top level of the side garden (where currently there is none).

The grounds in this area of the garden are very steep so will need to be re-graded prior to being seeded.

Old Wives Lees - Time for a Roof?

The 2-Bay Oak Car Barn is progressing steadily. The top photo above shows the roof batten installed and tiles laid out ready to be fitted. You may also notice the rather large black water tank in this photo. This tank is to be installed at the rear of the property for rain water collection.

The lower image shows the rear catslide roof which has also been felt and battened and now awaits tiling.

Old Wives Lees - The Driveway Bell-mouth

The Orchard Priory team continue to work on our project in Old Wives Lees, near Chilham. Today has seen  Site Manager, Mark Prentice, laying the bell-mouth for the new driveway.

We are installing Yorkstone setts (cobbles) to match those forming the driveway edging. Yorkstone is a traditional English stone quarried in Yorkshire which is hard wearing and durable. It has been a popular building material since medieval times and remains in demand for new builds and restoration projects today.

Old Wives Lees - The Oak Car Barn Grows!

Work on the 2-Bay Oak Car Barn continues and the roofing timbers are now in place as you can see in the photo above.

The roof includes a traditional Kent Half Hip (also known as a  Barn Hip) and has been constructed using tannelised (pressure treated) softwood.

The roof will now be felt and battened before being tiled.

Old Wives Lees - Building the perfect 2-Bay Oak Car Barn

Despite there still being snow on the ground we have now managed to install the Green Oak frame for the 2-Bay Oak Car Barn. A three course brick plinth supports the sides and rear of the structure.

Old Wives Lees - Ch, Ch, Changes

The above image shows the pre-existing garage at our Old Wives Lees project. We were charged with blocking up the existing garage door (on the left had side in the image) and creating the new access you can see above.

We have concluded this job by installing a pair of handmade, completely bespoke, kiln-dried Oak doors. The furniture for the doors is hand-forged ironmongery, primed and coated for a high quality finish.

Old Wives Lees - The Car Barn Base

We have now prepared the trenches for the Oak Car Barn footings (albeit they are somewhat flooded currently thanks to the rain). The area will be shuttered, to allow concrete to be poured to form the footings and the concrete base.

Early days at our new project

2013 has seen us start our latest project, a complete re-design of the front grounds of this premises in Old Wives Lees, Chilham, Kent.

This is a large project which we expect to take us through January and February. Included in the specification is a new driveway, a new Oak Car Barn for two cars and a complete overhaul of the garden.

We are very excited about this particular job and will keep this blog updated with our progress.

Graham Epps

On Friday 3rd August 2012, Graham Epps was killed in a traffic accident.

Graham (28) was a former employee of Orchard Priory and one of Managing Director, Ross Gandon's closest and most trusted friends.

Ross paid tribute to his friend saying "Graham was an integral part of the set up of Orchard Priory and a great person to have along side me in the early days of the business. His personality, particularly his sense of humour, and his diligence in his work were of enormous value to Orchard Priory and to me personally".

"That Graham should be taken from us while still so young is tragic, I know that I am not the only one who will share this sentiment. While words are simply not enough to express the loss we feel, it is the simple truth when I say; Graham, you will be sorely missed".