Garden Walls, Steps and Drainage Work in Hanley Castle

We build retaining walls, raised beds, steps and drainage for homes in Hanley Castle, Upton-upon-Severn, Hanley Swan, Callow End and Great Malvern, with each project planned from the ground up.

Structures that cope with wet ground

A wall holding back soil in wet ground carries more load, because saturated earth pushes harder than dry. That is why a retaining wall needs a solid footing, a gravel backfill and outlets for water. Skip those and the wall will lean within a few seasons. Taller walls need more engineering still, so we say plainly when a structure is better stepped back in two lower tiers than built as one tall face.

Raised beds help in the same way, lifting planting clear of waterlogged ground. They also bring the soil up to a more comfortable working height, which many gardeners appreciate on a larger plot. Fill them with decent topsoil and compost rather than the heavy ground beside them, and they will crop and flower far better.

• Footed retaining walls with gravel backfill
• Raised beds filled with good soil above the wet
• Steps with even treads and a safe rise
• Land drains, channels and soakaways

Drainage as a project of its own

Sometimes drainage is the whole job. A soakaway at a low point, a channel beside a terrace or a buried drain along a boundary can make a garden usable that seemed permanently soggy. The key is to understand where the water comes from and where it can safely go.

We will not recommend a drain where a regrade would do, or a wall where an edge is enough. A free site visit lets us look at the levels and the wet spots, and suggest the simplest structure that solves the problem.