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Tag: contemporary outdoor living

low maintenance garden design Michael John McGarr

Low-maintenance garden design- experiments, developments and lessons in outdoor living.

by Michael John McGarr The first question that many clients ask me on that very first consultation meeting is can I design a beautiful garden that will stay beautiful? How do I create a high-spec luxury outdoor living space that is really and truly low maintenance? My contemporary outdoor living spaces are actually naturally low-maintenance. I would not design a stunning space and then tell you that the huge lawn needs mowing twice a week and you need to hand-weed dandelions out of it (who could be bothered to do that?!). I won't leave you with swathes of bedding plants that need to

Categories: Advice and tips, Business news, ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, Garden design, innovation, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens, Residential garden, sustainable garden design, wildlife
November 29th 2019

Landscape Design Survey for Wildlife.

By Michael John McGarr A landscape design survey for wildlife shouldn't just be an exercise in measuring the site backwards and forwards, anyone with a laser level can accurately achieve this task. The key to creating a garden design that is beneficial to wildlife is to understand the current site conditions on a deeper level. More often than not wildlife is abundant on sites that have either been neglected or mismanaged for any length of time. Ironically the biggest danger to existing wildlife is the potential threat of further construction and development. The onus is then on the landscape designer to cushion the effects

Categories: ecological garden design, ecological landscape design, ecology, sustainable garden design, sustainable garden design., wildlife
May 9th 2019

New Ideas : New Materials in Landscape Architecture.

So it begins! It was great to get on the "big train to the big smoke" on Monday. As I dragged my suitcase through the streets of Wigan towards the train station, my usual penchant for garden design observation kicked in. I began to take in the good, and not so good gardens and landscape architecture within the public spaces around town. I needn't have been too concerned with this, as what lay in store for me was something far more exciting. The London College of Garden Design are hosting the "Spring Info Burst : New Ideas : New materials"

Categories: Architecture, Bolton, british stone, Cheshire, Garden design, Housebuilding, innovation, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, london, Michael John McGarr, Uncategorised
February 14th 2019

Houzz awards 2019 – Award Winning Landscape Design.

Houzz Awards 2019 - Warnes McGarr & Co. - Award Winning Landscape Design. Awarded by the community of over 40 million monthly users, annual BOH badge highlights home renovation & design professionals with Top ratings and most popular home designs "Warnes - McGarr & Co. of Wigan has won “Best Of Design ” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home renovation and design. The multi award winning landscape design and build company was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than 2.1 million active home building, renovating and design industry professionals. The Best Of Houzz is

Categories: Advice and tips, Architecture, Awards, Bolton, Business news, Cheshire, Garden design, garden lighting, Housebuilding, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens, Press coverage, rain gardens, Residential garden, RHS Tatton, Robert Warnes, Show gardens, sketchup, Sponsorship, Uncategorised, Wigan
February 4th 2019

Sketchup for landscape design.

By Robert Warnes. Sketchup for Landscape design. I have done quite some reading recently on established landscape design principles and conventions, but rarely have I come across anything detailing the specific method and workflow we employ as a company of designers to achieve our garden designs. There will be many garden design purists out there who firmly believe that in order to effectively design it is essential to be able to put pencil to paper and physically draw the garden. I disagree. I am unfortunately not blessed with talent or skill to do this. I do feel however this obstacle can be overcome by

Categories: Advice and tips, Architecture, Awards, Bolton, Business news, Cheshire, Garden design, Housebuilding, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Outdoor kitchens, Residential garden, sketchup, Uncategorised
January 9th 2019

5 ways to include wildlife in your garden design.

'The way we see it, our gardens don't belong to us alone – they belong to all the wildlife that lives there, eats there or even just uses them as a stopping off point,' says award-winning garden designer Michael John McGarr of Warnes McGarr & Co. 'This could involve the hedgehog that wanders through your garden at night, the birds that stop off in the thick shrubbery, right through to the beetles and woodlice that live under a stone at the end of the garden.' It doesn't take a huge amount of effort to ensure wildlife can flourish in your garden

Categories: Advice and tips, Architecture, Awards, Bolton, Business news, Cheshire, Garden design, Housebuilding, Lancashire, landscape architecture, Landscape design, Manchester, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens, Press coverage, rain gardens, Residential garden, Wigan
December 19th 2018

Create an outdoor kitchen area

It's Friday and brilliant beautiful sunshine has been forecast for the weekend! There's nothing better than eating, dining and socialising outdoors, especially at the end of a long week. But it has to be done properly... Here at Warnes McGarr & Co, we create very high-end outdoor kitchens as our niche speciality, complete with wood-fired pizza ovens, outdoor heaters, full working kitchen equipment and even luxuries like televisions and hot tubs. You can see examples of our work such as our Eat & Shelter outdoor kitchen garden, which we won a gold medal for last year. However, not everyone has a budget

Categories: Advice and tips, Garden design, Landscape design, Michael John McGarr, Outdoor kitchens
June 16th 2017

Double award winner at Gardeners’ World Live

We’re all celebrating here at WM design Studio after winning a gold medal and the Best Construction award at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Show in Birmingham, June 16-19. Our garden was called Eat and Shelter, which featured the amazing Alfa outdoor wood-burning pizza oven we supply, as well as a fire/ ice table and a very contemporary corten steel pergola. This garden utterly represents everything we do here at Warnes McGarr & Co. The outdoor kitchen has fast become our signature design, because it represents a new trend in how people use their gardens. In addition to this, it represents

Categories: Awards, Business news
June 19th 2016