Our small city garden needed a complete transformation from the featureless decked space that we'd had since our kids were toddlers, to meet the changing needs of our family now that they are teenagers and to give us some outside space to relax in now that we are spending much more time working from home. Starting the garden project was quite daunting, as we knew that a lot of careful planning and work would be needed to turn it into the sort of space that we wanted. But once Paul and his designer Katerina came to see our garden and discuss our requirements with us, they made us believe that what we wanted was achievable, and so we were happy to pay the deposit for the plans (deductible against the final cost). Their ideas really came to life once Kat showed us her detailed coloured plans and ideas for the garden on her next visit. F&H were highly focused on delivering what we wanted from the garden, and also added great ideas to ours. After seeing the plans, we knew that F&H were absolutely the right people to entrust the project to. Our budget was tight, but although not the cheapest, Paul's flexibility in finding ways to reduce costs, and his guarantee that the final price was fixed and that there would be no 'hidden extras' or surprises, convinced us to go ahead with F&H. They were also realistic in their timeframes and we understood that to get the garden we wanted the work would probably take a couple of months. Seeing what we would get at the end of the process, we were happy to wait. Once we gave the green light though, the work on the project started remarkably quickly as Paul had a timeslot available for one of his teams. Measuring up was done within a week, and the team started clearing the garden soon after. The extra light and space in the garden and also in the back of the house that was created by the clearance of overgrown trees etc. was great, and once all the overhanging branches were gone we could see that the ‘blank canvas’ that Kat said we had to work with was bigger than we'd thought. The F&H team were excellent, a complete pleasure to deal with, and worked really hard to complete the clearance and start the hard landscaping phase as quickly as possible, and then we really began to see that F&H would fulfil our hopes for the garden. We went on holiday while the work was going on, but Kat's team continued to work while we were away and Kat kept us updated by email as patios were put in, raised beds were built and rendered, a new shed arrived, new fences were put up, and everything took shape, and we were excited by what we would return to. The finishing touches were done soon after we got back, and once our new garden furniture arrived our new garden was ready for us to enjoy. I don’t think we could be any happier with what Floral & Hardy have delivered for us – the transformation is fantastic. They listened carefully to what we wanted, contributed their own great ideas, drew up a plan which showed us how lovely our garden could be, and then delivered on that plan 100%, on time and on budget. I don’t think it could have been a more stress-free process, and I don’t think we have ever spent money more wisely. They have has even offered to pop back in a few months to make sure all the plants have survived the winter, and to make sure we’re still happy with everything, which I'm certain we will be. To anyone considering having work done on their garden, and particularly if they want something transformative, I don’t think they could choose anyone better to design and deliver that than Floral & Hardy. Thanks so much to Paul, Kat, Mikel, Igor and the rest of the team!