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Fi Boyle’s Old Quarry Garden, a steep former quarry redesigned with terraces and accessible routes, won the People’s Choice category at the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers’ Awards. The project offers practical ideas for sloping gardens, including surveying the levels, choosing retaining walls and linking terraces with repeated materials and planting.
Designer Fi Boyle has won the public-voted People’s Choice category at the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers’ Awards for the Old Quarry Garden, a steep former quarry reshaped into usable terraces. The project shows how a difficult slope can be made more practical through level changes, retaining walls and routes between terraces that do not rely only on steps.
The garden had been a private space, but previous attempts to create usable areas had left much of the site overgrown, crumbling and difficult to access, Boyle told Amateur Gardening. The clients, who are keen gardeners, wanted to use more of the land and make it possible to maintain properly. Their brief required machinery and wheelbarrows to move between levels without using steps.
Boyle said the number and placement of terraces came from reading the site’s topography. The garden uses several types of retaining wall, including natural stone found on site, rendered breeze blocks, and a combination of steel and sleepers. She also recommends considering lower walls that adjust the slope enough to make it workable, rather than assuming every garden needs large retaining structures.
The design varies materials and planting by level while repeating elements to connect the garden. A sunny terrace has a Mediterranean-inspired planting palette, gravel and offset stepping stones. Limestone paving and rounded Cotswold gravel recur through the garden, while the stone walls use material from the quarry site. At steeper edges, Boyle says she used wildflower turf; the source report does not provide further details about the plants or installation.
Making Steep Gardens Usable
The project matters to gardeners facing a slope because it treats access and maintenance as part of the design, not as problems to address after planting. The clients’ requirement that wheelbarrows and machinery reach each level shaped how the terraces were connected. That approach can help make a garden more usable over time, particularly where steps would prevent routine work or equipment access.
Boyle also warns that steep ground can make planting harder to manage: soil and added compost may move downhill, leaving upper areas dry and lower areas wet. A survey can establish the real level changes before work begins. The award-winning garden is an example, not a guarantee that the same solution will suit every site; slope, soil, aspect, budget and access requirements differ.
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From Quarry Slope to Terraces
The Old Quarry Garden is described in the Amateur Gardening report as an unusually steep and challenging site. Boyle said areas that could be reached were in poor condition, while large parts were virtually unusable. The clients wanted to reclaim more of the garden, leading to a plan based on terraces and connections between them.
Boyle advises understanding the actual level changes before settling on a design. She told the magazine that slopes over 30 degrees are very difficult to look after, while also describing that angle as still too steep to work comfortably. Her broader advice is to survey the site rather than judge the gradient by eye. The report gives no project budget, construction dates or precise measurements of the finished terraces.
Planting and materials were selected with each area’s conditions in mind. Boyle says planting can become more cultivated near the house or a terrace, then incorporate native or near-native varieties towards the garden’s edges. Repeating paving and gravel helps the separate levels feel connected, while the choice of stone reflects the garden’s quarry setting.
“Anything over 30 degrees is very hard to look after.”
— Fi Boyle, garden designer, speaking to Amateur Gardening
Project Details Not Reported
The source report does not state the garden’s location, the project’s cost, how long construction took or the precise gradient and dimensions of the site. It also does not detail the engineering or drainage specifications for the retaining walls. Boyle’s comments about slopes over 30 degrees are design advice attributed to her, not a universal rule for every garden.
The report says wildflower turf was used on steep banks but does not identify its species, establishment method or maintenance regime. The award is identified as the People’s Choice category at the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers’ Awards, but the source provides no date for the ceremony or further information about other award categories.
Applying the Design Lessons
The report does not announce a further phase of work or a new project milestone for the Old Quarry Garden. For readers planning a sloping garden, Boyle’s advice points to practical next steps: survey the levels, identify access and maintenance needs, then decide where terraces and connections could fit before choosing planting and finishes.
Any proposed retaining walls or changes to levels will need to respond to the specific site. The source does not provide construction plans or engineering guidance, so the details of those requirements remain a matter for assessment on each property. The published design lessons offer a case study, rather than a complete specification for reproducing the garden.
Key Questions
What award did the Old Quarry Garden win?
Designer Fi Boyle won the public-voted People’s Choice category at the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers’ Awards, according to Amateur Gardening.
What was the main design challenge?
The former quarry was very steep, and large areas were difficult to use. The clients also wanted machinery and wheelbarrows to reach different levels without relying on steps.
What does Boyle recommend before designing a sloping garden?
Boyle advises getting a survey of the level changes, since the slope can be harder to judge by eye than it appears. She also cautions that steep banks can be difficult to maintain and plant successfully.
How did the design connect its separate terraces?
Boyle repeated materials across the levels, including limestone paving and rounded Cotswold gravel. The garden also uses several kinds of retaining wall and varies its planting according to the conditions of each terrace.
Source: amateurgardening.com
