For our first anniversary (last weekend) Mum and Dad gave us some garden gift vouchers. Dawn and I had been chatting about doing the front garden, so this weekend we decided, lets do it. So we did!

After getting Mum and Dad to come across for the Saturday I set to hacking back the big bush, we removed the crazy paving, bought the new plants and blue slate mulch, and got it pretty much finished on the Saturday. Sunday I got another load of slate, some more plants and finished the job off. Luckily for you lot, I took pictures along the way, so you can see how the makeover came about.

Front garden complete!

For those who are of a gardening disposition, the plants are: along the wall - English and French Lavender, in the middle - some herbs (Compact Marjoram, Tricolor Sage, Lemon Variegated Thyme, Oregano) and the spidery type plants (Cordyline autralis “Torbay Dazzler” (the yellow one) and Ophiopogon planiscapus “Nigrescens” (the black one), I've lost the label for the red one.) We're told by gardening experts (M&D) that the plants will like the sunny conditions in our front garden.

All the plants and materials came from the magnificent Wentworth Garden Centre, that we discovered a mere 10 minutes from our house, and in the beautiful country setting of Wentworth. It's amazing what you find when you take a different road out of Wombwell!

A final note, paving and slate is heavy stuff, as my back and legs will testify, but it is truly amazing what you can achieve in a weekend if you put your mind to it, get your parents across and work in hot conditions!