A design is not mandatory and it does not necessarily have to be made by a professional company. Nevertheless, research shows that most truly satisfied garden owners have based their construction on a well-considered and creative design. The question remains: “What is a well-thought-out garden design and who can make such a design?!”

Hundreds of designers and architects are present. The problem is, you can't tell from their name or website. There are also umbrella organizations such as the NVTL and Groenkeur that 'guarantee' their members. We in Appeltern have made our own selection of creative designers you can rely on. We take you through the following choices:

DESIGN YOUR OWN GARDEN

The design starts with a good situation drawing. Sometimes there is still such a drawing from the contractor or the previous occupants. It is a good idea to also measure the measurements in practice. Check where all doors and windows are. Important are the yard boundaries and perhaps certain trees or elements that you want to keep for the new garden.

Draw everything to scale on a (large) sheet of paper. At a scale of 1:100, one meter in practice is one centimeter on paper. At a scale of 1:50, one meter in practice is two centimeters on paper. When all existing elements and sizes have been indicated, you can start sketching. First sketch a little thinly with a pencil. If you like the lines and the shape, they can gradually become thicker and final.

It is important that you know what you want. A wish list is essential. You could also first get inspiration in practice. Making a mood board (with photos that appeal to you from practice or from magazines) also provides guidance. It's okay if you don't like the first sketches. A professional designer sometimes spends hours before he has found an appealing twist on paper.

A method that you could also use is the following: cut out a number of objects (terrace, shed, sandbox, pond) to size beforehand. Then give them a different place within the drawn plan until they are 'right'.

CHOOSE AN APPELTERN GARDEN EXPERT!

It is quite difficult to find a skilled and creative designer. Besides a Groenkeur label and an NVTL title, there are no official quality marks for designers. Even then, having a title or certificate is no guarantee of creativity. Someone could fully master the Dutch language, but that does not mean that he can also write a book.

In De Tuinen van Appeltern, we always got the question from visitors: “Where should we go for a garden design?” That is why we have made a selection from a network of qualified and trusted companies. We came up with the conditions, the working method and the quality control system. Then we just went looking. We visited companies, we assessed their work and talked about their passion and ambition. More than forty companies are now Appeltern Tuinexpert . They are all gardening companies with their owndesign department. Each and every one of them is driven and experienced companies with a heart for your garden and the breadth of Dutch garden culture. We can therefore confidently refer our visitors for the design, construction and maintenance of their gardens.

Would you like to know more about Appeltern Tuinexperts?
Click on Appeltern Garden Expert

TALK TO OUR SKETCH SERVICE FIRST

It may of course be the case that you do not trust yourself completely or that you do not find the intervention in your garden so important to immediately turn it into an 'expensive' garden design. Then you could also talk to the sketch service. With the Sketch Service you make an appointment where you discuss the situation with a garden designer. The designer makes a sketch on the spot with which you can proceed. Sometimes you find out during the conversation that it might be better in your situation to have a complete garden design made. You can know from us that a good garden design is never too expensive. A garden design saves a lot of construction costs because of the tricks. And even better… a suitable garden design prevents a lot of future gardening misery. After all, it's all about your Garden happiness, so basically it's priceless.

Perhaps even more important to know is that a custom garden design more than pays for itself. And then we haven't even mentioned the misery that can be prevented. It concerns simple matters such as a balanced ground balance, not too much expensive paving, the combination of several wishes and the construction experience, so that expensive constructions are not devised on paper in advance, but rather practical sustainable alternatives.

I would like to know more about our Sketch service or make an appointment .