Designing and Building an Accessible Garden

Planning the Layout of an Accessible Garden  

Layout plans define how the garden can be navigated and used. Your garden designer will consider factors such as where the sun falls at different times of the day, where the garden is most (and least) overlooked, slopes, existing features, the type of activities to be accommodated and of course, the space available. 

You may want to design the layout of your garden yourself. However, please do consider hiring a garden designer. They are experts at coming up with unique and imaginative solutions to the challenges posed by all types of accessibility issues. Plus of course, a good garden designer will be au fait with any and all regulations that apply to accessible gardens. 

For example, in a wheelchair accessible garden, the designer will take special care to ensure that paths are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs or walkers, that turning circles are considered, that steps and slopes easily negotiated and that gates don’t slope directly onto a ramp (it’s not easy to control a wheelchair AND open a gate at the same time).  

The visually impaired may appreciate features within a garden layout to make navigation easier. Hand rails, static art, different sounds and a variety of textures underfoot are all helpful aids. Garden designers have a way of accentuating some features in order to make full use of non-visual senses. 

A note about level access. Level access to buildings is helpful to people with impaired mobility. They can move easily from indoors to outdoors without struggling with steps. However, designing level access is a complex process because the landscaping features must not compromise the property’s damp proofing mechanisms. But at the same time, the damp proof course must not be compromised. If you are at all unsure about a level access feature in a garden design, please seek advice from Building Control before embarking on a build as rectifying mistakes can be very costly indeed. 

Specifying Surfaces for an Accessible Garden  

Choosing appropriate surfaces is a crucial part of any garden design, but for an accessible garden, the process requires a little extra consideration. 

How will the surface be used? A deep layer of loose gravel is entirely unsuitable for wheelchairs and wheeled walkers. However, the addition of gravel stabilisation grids may make the surface easier to use. Some types of paver can be slippery when wet. Riven stone is a good choice for an accessible garden. It has a slight texture to it which makes it less inclined to be slippery. It pays to consult the technical spec of any material before incorporating it into a garden design. 

Gradient is important too. All paving needs to be laid on a slight slope for drainage but of course an easy access ramp requires a steeper angle. How steep should that angle be? Certainly no more than 1:12 for independent use. And if the ramp covers a long distance, flat resting places should be included in the design. 

Considering Ongoing Maintenance 

All gardens need a modicum of maintenance. From weeding, watering and mowing to sweeping up fallen leaves to reduce slip hazards. This needs to be considered at the design stage. Perhaps the client has difficulty bending down? In which case planting areas could be raised to a more accessible height. Something as simple as installing water butts or standpipes around the garden can make watering easier. And of course these days, a level lawn can happily be tended to by a robotic mower. 

Don’t dismiss any garden feature on the grounds of accessibility until you have investigated all of the options. More often than not there will be a common sense solution for every perceived problem. Including employing an APL Professional Gardener to tend to the ‘big jobs’.