A garden made of sand? In this village near Cardigan, the land is almost entirely sand as a result of a huge glacier that once covered the area. Read on to see how Landworks is making a garden from sand….

Inaccessible and awkward to use

This retaining wall is only two metres from the wall of the house. The entire garden needed to be taken further back to give it some perspective and stop the wall dominating the view from the windows.

The start

First, the wall came down and we began digging. All the sand had to be removed via a 1m wide passageway at the side of the house to be taken off site.

Starting to shape the garden

Next, we began terracing. What little topsoil there was we put aside to use later.

Retaining

We use whole solid larch sleepers to retain the upper wall of sand. The wall is slightly curved, to add movement and interest to the garden.

Greenhouse area

Shallow steps give an inviting access to this corner, which is now ready for a greenhouse. We moved around 75 tons of sand, one barrow at a time, to build this area. Phase 1 complete! Phase 2 coming soon….