Ben & Tamil
Rayleigh
A good space made unusable — the previous owners had removed all the grass to work around their pets. Ground levelled for a new lawn, railway sleepers repurposed into a pathway, raised beds relocated and new borders planted.
Design · Realisation · Care
Alexander James is an RHS qualified garden designer, working across Essex.
Garden design, planting and maintenance in Brentwood, Billericay and Upminster and across the South East — from a single border to a whole garden drawn, built and looked after.
How the work goes
Three words on the sign, and all three are the job.
Most people who cut grass don't draw. Most people who draw don't come back and weed it. Alexander does all three.
I
Design
Drawn by hand, in pencil and watercolour, before anything is dug. You see the garden before it exists — and can change your mind while changing it is still free.
II
Realisation
Ground levelled, borders cleared and turned, turf laid, trees and hedging planted and shaped. Where a patio or driveway is involved, he works alongside trusted landscapers.
III
Care
A garden isn't finished, it's kept. Weekly maintenance, spring and autumn clear-ups, hedges levelled, edges hand-trimmed.
Frame 4 — established planting, awaiting Alexander's photo
- Drawn
- Cleared & levelled
- Planted
- Kept
Recent work
Ten gardens, and the people they belong to.
Every one of these is a real garden in a real street. Names and towns as given.
Charlotte & Clare
Brentwood
An exterior designed to complement a new extension: new lawn, a fragrant lavender border, espaliered trees, and a stumpary with tall grasses to bring wildlife closer.
Whitechapel
London
The unloved external space of an ex-local-authority block of flats, redrawn and replanted. Communal ground treated with the same care as a private garden.
Steph & Rob
Upminster
Freshening the front of the property. Tired shrubs out, ilex in, and a run of spring bulbs for a burst of colour when the year turns.
Simon
Upminster
A striking terrace deserved striking pots. Borders tidied throughout, and a wooden raised bed removed so the eye is drawn all the way down the garden.
Martin
Hutton
After building work at the family home, a full re-turfing — rotivated and levelled first, so the lawn was ready for the family to use that summer.
Straight answer
What it costs
From £30
per hour · weekly maintenance
Free quote for regular maintenance. Design and one-off work is quoted per garden — ring and describe it, and you'll get a straight answer rather than a form.
Where he works
Essex and the South East
Brentwood · Billericay · Upminster · Hutton · Rayleigh · Norton Heath — and the surrounding villages. Communal and commercial green space as well as private gardens.
Ask about your areaRing him. It's the quickest way.
Describe the garden and you'll get a straight answer on whether it's a job for him, and roughly what it involves.