From humble shrubberies to outdoor offices, how the modern garden is inspiring one in three of us to work, rest and play outdoors
There’s nothing better than a summer’s afternoon spent pottering around in the garden, but now it seems our gardens have an even more important role to play in our lives than first thought.
New research released today shows over a quarter of us use our gardens as a retreat from the world, more so than any other area of our homes, while over a third say their outdoor oasis is where they find the opportunity to refresh and revive their spirits. Just under half de-stress best by enjoying the tranquillity in their garden as opposed to unwinding with a drink or chatting to friends and family.
It seems that as well as improving our mental well-being many of us are now treating our garden as a hot bed of creative and business inspiration with 29% saying they use their garden to get their creative juices flowing and to inspire new ideas.
Far from being a space for a bit of cricket and a cider on a summer’s day, portable technology is allowing a growing number of us to turn our gardens into an office extension, meaning the term ‘out of office’ no longer means being out of touch. Indeed, 15% of those surveyed claim that they now prefer to use their laptop outdoors instead of in their more traditional home offices.
Landscape gardener Kathryn Hibberd, fresh from collecting her Silver Gilt Medal award from this year’s Hampton Court flower show for designing Sadolin’s innovative Refresh and Revive Garden, says: “I am absolutely delighted with winning the Silver Gilt medal. People seem to really love the garden, and it is lovely to see people smiling and enjoying it. At Hampton Court, where many of the visitors are real gardeners, it is important to create a beautiful garden which people can envision in their own space, and I believe that is what we have created.”
And it seems we’re still a nation intent on keeping up with Jones’s, with just under a third claiming they are envious of their neighbours gardens, with nearly one in 10 making changes to their garden as a direct result.
For more information visit www.sadolin.co.uk
How to turn your garden into a home office
There’s nothing better than a summer’s afternoon spent pottering around in the garden, and wouldn’t it be great if, on those lovely hot days you didn’t have to head back inside to finish off your work?
For those of us who do work from home, the temptation to delay our work commitments to grab a few extra minutes or hours outdoors can often be too hard to resist. While this may leave us refreshed from some outside time, it can also result in us feeling guilty that we have put off important tasks
So what if you could do both? Enjoy the ambience of a lovely summer’s day in the garden, while getting your work done as well.
Well, life coach Honey Langcaster James and gardener Kathryn Hibberd believe it can be done and has teamed up with Sadolin to offer their top tips for taking your home office outside this summer.
For more information visit www.sadolin.co.uk
How to make the most of your garden space
We’ve all looked at our gardens in despair at one point in time, wondering how we can make our outside space look bigger. It can be hard not to look at the neighbour’s garden with envy wishing your green space could be as calm and well-maintained.
Well if you would like some new ideas on not only creating the perfect garden, but also organising it into a space that is easy to maintain and a breeze to care for then you might want to think about the new trend for creating separate spaces within the one garden.
Landscape Gardner Kathryn Hibberd has teamed up with Sadolin to share her top tips on achieving a multi use garden with minimal fuss.
For more information visit www.sadolin.co.uk