In every new project the question of how to create a fluent and interesting client-focused design is set within the context of how the space will be enhanced for wildlife and play its own small role in larger questions of sustainability and climate.  There are varying estimates of the number of private gardens within the UK - somewhere between 15 and 23 million.  What is more certain is that they occupy over four times as much land as the UK's National Nature Reserves - more than 1 million acres of land.   In our view the notion of a "garden" first of all intimates a private space, a place of enjoyment for the people who use it.  But almost every garden can form part of a larger wildlife corridor; the habitats of birds, mammals and invertebrates occupy both subsections and combinations of our gardens and green spaces;  our choice of trees and other plants form part of a mosaic which stretches beyond our own boundaries; the shade provided by trees is known to have a beneficial cooling effect in urban "heat islands"; and the enclosure we provide with our hedges and quiet nooks becomes part of ecosystems invisible to us.   So the combination of these individual spaces and the way they are designed and built makes a difference to our native wildlife - and a small but worthwhile contribution to larger issues.  

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Over-use of tropical timbers and concrete, chemicals and heat reflecting expanses of paving undoubtedly have a negative effect.  Beautiful Wild gardens minimise these elements, and focus on plants to create structure and delineation of spaces, saving hard materials for use when their functionality is integral to the success of the garden or they add definition and aesthetic appeal.  This is not an ascetic approach, but one which is at ease in the space between desire and responsibility, and enjoys the challenge of combining the two.