Privacy Practises by Nicki Jackson

One of the things on most clients’ garden design wish list these days is privacy; most people’s gardens are overlooked by at least one neighbour and with many new build gardens being overlooked from all sides, this isn’t something that is likely to be a fad. Luckily there are some garden designer tips and tricks that can help, so if you’re thinking about privacy in your garden, consider the following:

Follow function with form – as with most garden projects it’s always worth starting by considering the 5 W’s.  Who, what, where, when, why – answer the relevant W questions for your project and the ‘how’ usually falls out of the answers. For instance:

• Who needs privacy? Who is overlooking?
• What needs privacy? A play area, a dining table, a sunbathing spot, a coffee corner, a hot tub? Some ‘what’s’ might require more privacy measures than others.
• Where do you want privacy and where from? This one is crucial in terms of privacy – it is the overlooking lines of sight that need ‘breaking’ so consider what you want to do in your garden and where, and then work out the sight lines that are overlooking that specific spot and aim to address them. Link this to a consideration of your site too and make the most of what it has to offer; chances are there are some sweet spots in your garden that already afford you some privacy – do these areas offer potential for what you’d like to use your garden for? If they do, utilise and enhance existing privacy rather than creating from scratch – it’s more cost effective and less work that way! 
• When do you want privacy? If you only need privacy in the summer, for example, screening using deciduous shrubs and plants, or non-permanent sails and parasols makes sense. Not only are they more affordable, they also help maximise light levels in your home during the darker winter months which is especially useful for those of us with smaller gardens.
• Ask someone why they want privacy and often the answer is less formulated than the other W’s; it is often about eliciting a feeling – of security, of safety, of seclusion, of quiet, of escape, for instance. In these cases, the need for privacy often translates to the creation of ‘enclosure’ and ‘envelopment’ that our garden boundaries alone usually fail to deliver.

Once you know the answers to the above, solutions usually begin to develop but it is the trajectory of overlooking sight lines that often lead the way, for these will inform the required heights and positions of privacy measures. For example, if you have a dining area just outside the back of your house and you live in a semi-detached house, then your neighbour’s bedroom window might directly overlook your dining area, in which case an overhead privacy screen like a sail, awning or pergola might be the best option for you. If, however, you have a single-story extension on the back of your house that might well break the trajectory of the line of sight from your neighbour’s window you might not need anything overhead at that point at all. In this case you’d be utilising one of those sweet spots we mentioned previously that already afford you some privacy.

Using the same example and assuming you have a fairly level back garden; if your dining table is further down your garden the trajectory of the view of your overlooking neighbour could be broken by shorter more cost-effective screening closer to your dining table just as effectively, if not more so, as taller, more expensive screening closer to your neighbour’s viewpoint. But once you know where and how high privacy measures need to be the possibilities to be creative are endless. It’s time to delve into some privacy practises.

© Nicki Jackson, Blue Daisy Gardens 2024