Lifestyle

Hard Landscaping – Made Easy

Andrews Building Supplies and Rose Plant Hire – or at least the family-run building business from which both grew – have been part of the local landscape for over a century. Now, under the guidance of Director and Finance Director Natasha Andrew, they are poised to bring all that trade expertise and experience to a garden near you

Rose Landscapes – with one of the largest indoor hard landscaping showspaces in the country – will allow you to see finished examples before you buy, as well as offering free one-to-one advice and bespoke design service.

“We wanted to diversify, and I wanted to do something that was a lot more retail focused. We played around with a few ideas, but one of the things that we’re most successful in is landscaping,” says Natasha.

Whilst we are all used to hearing how the recession has hit the building trade, landcaping is one area that has remained unaffected. It seems it may even have benefited from the property downturn.

“People are tending to stay put rather than move house, and just smartening up the properties they have. So landscaping has remained strong. We have certainly been selling an amazing quantity of block paving every week.”

Natasha’s aim has been to build on that success, expanding the range, but also creating a welcoming environment in which ordinary customers can get a real sense of what they’re buying.

“With all due respect to brochures, things often  don’t look quite the way they look in beautifully lit photographs. The idea here is that people can walk in and see six different types of block paving, exactly how it would look in their garden. That’s the whole patio laid down, with all the walling, planting, water features and furniture – a bit like IKEA where you get to see a whole room. We’ve got everything from the traditional to the contemporary, and you can mix and match as well. It’s just about being able to see all your options. And there’s a patio pack that you can have delivered free the next day. So, literally anyone can come in and say ‘I want to recreate that at home’ and either we can help them to do that, or they can do it themselves.”

Whether you choose to go down the DIY route or get a man (or woman) who can is entirely up to you. Thanks to Andrews Building Supplies just down the road, Rose Landscapes can, of course, sell everything needed to get the job done – but Natasha is also on hand to help plan right from the off.

Roselandscapes-4

“You can come into me and say, ‘This is the area I have to work with’. And then I can tell you how deep you’ll need to dig out, how much hardcore you’ll need, how much sharp sand. Then I can sell you your preferred pack or a combination, with a simple design and layout, which again I can provide.”

If you’re after a more challenging design, specific to your needs, that’s no problem. “We have lots of people who can do it for you who we can put you in contact with,” says Natasha. One example is Alistair Peat of Alfresco Landscaping Ltd, who helped shape the new showspace. “He’s a garden designer – and a Bradstone assured installer – so you know those products are being properly installed by someone with experience. All our designers and installers are experts with their particular materials. That not only means they’re incredibly quick, but also that their finishing is excellent, because they know the particular foibles of the materials they’re working with.”
While having accredited designers and installers might sound scarily pricey, the aim from the start has been to deliver all this at an attractive price. In fact, an initial design – by a trained designer, covering all the hard landscaping, greenery and soon–can be done for the most attractive price of all: nothing.

“Someone went into one of our competitors and they wanted to charge them £800 simply for a garden design. I was amazed! The two guys that designed our showroom out there will come and meet you, have a cup of tea, talk it through and do you a complete garden design free of charge, because they’re confident they’ll win the job.”

Roselandscapes-3The possibilities are wide, with the showspace featuring everything from the slabs that are used in Trafalgar Square to artificial grass. They’ll even sell you the furniture if it takes your fancy. “Products on display range from £15 per square metre to £100 per square metre, but of course we also still have budget stuff available in Andrews if all you need is something basic.”

No matter what quality you go for, pricing aims to be competitive. In addition to free next day delivery and free garden designs, Rose Landscapes offer trade prices to all customers. “It’s the same with our building supplies,” says Natasha. “Mr and Mrs Smith walking in off the street wanting a bag of gravel get the same price as a builder. That’s always been our ethos.”

It’s also far more welcoming than your average builders’ yard. “It’s a friendly environment – very much a shop feel. I want them to come in, and sit down to have cup of tea with me – or maybe
a glass of wine if it’s a weekend – and then go away with a product that they’ve seen laid out and that I know they’re going to be happy with. Just a positive experience from start to finish.”

Padholme Road
East Peterborough
PE1 5XL

01733 340270

www.roselandscapes.co.uk

www.andrews-bs.co.uk

www.roseplanthire.co.uk

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