Growing Family

UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

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Ideas for creating privacy in a family garden

June 17, 2016 by Catherine 2 Comments

colourfence metal fencing in a family garden

Do you think of your garden as an outdoor room?  At this time of year in particular, our gardens work hard to give us extra space for outdoor dining, family garden games, entertaining, and simply relaxing in the sunshine. Using our gardens more can make us feel the need to create some privacy.  Unless your house is situated in a large, detached plot, your garden is likely to be overlooked in some way.  Even if you get on well with your ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: Children, Family, Fencing, Garden, Garden design, gardening, Hedging, Top Tips, Trees

Garden design: the best decking for a family garden

February 15, 2016 by Catherine Leave a Comment

composite decking for a family garden

Do you have a decked area in your garden?  It’s a really popular choice for creating a patio area, and can really enhance the overall impact of your outdoor space.  In a family garden decking is a great multi-tasker, providing an area for supervised play, dining, entertaining or simply relaxing in the sunshine. Traditional wooden decking is a popular choice, but when it comes to using it in a family garden, it has it’s drawbacks.  In wet or ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: Children, Decking, Family, Garden, Garden design, Top Tips

Hard landscaping: getting it right in your garden design

January 22, 2016 by Catherine Leave a Comment

garden wall with planter

Collaborative post When it comes to designing your garden, the main element that often springs to mind is the plants themselves.  It’s very tempting when planning a new garden layout to get carried away designing borders, choosing plants, shrubs and trees, and looking ahead to when everything is blooming nicely. This is all time well spent, but if you’re going to create a successful garden it’s crucial to also give careful thought to ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: design, Garden, Hard Landscaping, Patio, Planning, Raised bed, Top Tips, water feature

An English coastal country garden

August 21, 2015 by Catherine 16 Comments

english coastal country garden gate

This week's slice of garden loveliness comes from my mum-in-law's garden in Devon.  We visited at the start of the school holidays and while the sun shone I spent a happy hour amongst the flowers with my camera. When Penny and Mike moved to Devon 16 years ago their house had a large patch of land at the back but no garden to speak of - so they just created one from scratch.  Among the countless hours of work this involved was the scarily huge ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: clematis, coast, design, Flowers, Garden, gardening, HDYGG, hydrangea, Plants, pond, Summer

Potting heaven: my dream secret shed

August 12, 2015 by Catherine 2 Comments

st anns allotments

I am a gardener.  I love my garden and I garden most days, certainly every week.  So if I asked you to guess what is in my garden shed you would logically assume it was pretty much dedicated to gardening equipment, right ? Wrong. Here's what's inside our garden shed: Bike x 6 (but only 4 people in our family) Kids' bike seats, spare bike wheels, bike rack for car (can you see a pattern emerging here?) Huge shelving unit full of paint pots, ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: design, Garden, Planning, Project, Shed, storage, Tools

Statement sheds: the latest garden trend

July 10, 2015 by Catherine 2 Comments

posh shed birstall hsp chelsea summerhouse

Today’s guest post introduces a whole new side to the humble garden shed.  Enjoy! Sheds: a British passion and tradition we already know, but a fashion trend and the latest must have accessory - are you serious? Just a few years ago, you would never have believed that the next big, must-have fashion trend was the humble garden shed, and a television programme dedicated to them would draw in millions of viewers every week. If you had been told ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: competition, Garden, garden room, gazebo, Shed, Summer, summerhouse, trends

Using a water pump to enhance your garden

June 16, 2015 by Catherine 3 Comments

water feature old water pump

I spend a lot of time daydreaming about my perfect garden.  As I learn more and find more inspiration the design changes in my mind, but one thing always remains constant: it has to have a water feature.  All that wonderful sensory enjoyment that a water feature brings to a garden is a must-have for my dream outdoor space. Back in the real world, I’d love to see a little bit of my dream made reality by installing a water feature in our ...

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Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: design, Garden, pond, water, water feature, water pump

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Hi, I’m Catherine. Welcome to Growing Family, a top UK home & garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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Catherine Hughes is a home & garden blogger sharing ideas, inspiration & tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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