Mel Speak Garden Design
I love to create beautiful outdoor environments for people to enjoy.

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Special Interests
I am available to work with community projects, local schools or care environments.

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No job too large or small
Whether your project is large or small please give me a call to discuss.

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I can work with you to create your dream garden.

Mel Speak Garden Design | East Yorkshire / North Yorkshire

Welcome to Mel Speak Garden Design. I moved to beautiful Bridlington, East Yorkshire, in 2022 having previously lived and worked across West Yorkshire. I am now available to cover areas along the east coast and inland such as Bridlington, Filey, Malton, Driffield, Beverley, Hornsea & Scarborough. However, wherever you are please contact me and I will see if I can help you in any way!

I have always had a passion for gardening and can truly appreciate what value a personalised outdoor space has. I love to create beautiful outdoor environments for people to enjoy. Everyone has their own ideal of what their garden can provide them. For some it can be an oasis of calm with a rippling water feature which calms the senses after a hard day’s work. For others it needs to be a vibrant space for entertaining with all round heating and shelter or perhaps a sensory paradise with smells and sounds that calm the soul and provide a private oasis for family or personal time. Whatever you desire, whether this be a Mediterranean style oasis of vibrant colour, a beautiful traditional cottage style English garden or a sunning coastal retreat – I can work with you to create your dream garden.

For me garden design is very much about the individual – you know what you want from your garden and I will ensure that you are fully involved in the whole design process. I can provide you with detailed plans for your new garden, engage or recommend landscape contractors if necessary and oversee the project. I am always on hand to offer you advice and will provide an aftercare maintenance service as well. I have become adept at working flexibly throughout the pandemic and I can conduct consultations via telephone or video call and site visits and surveys can be completed alone and any drawings sent electronically. However I am also very happy to meet with customers personally and involve you completely in the redesign process as much as you desire.

Garden Design Services
Initial consultation – Site survey & analysis – Construction/Build – Aftercare and Maintenance
One-off consultation service – Garden Maintenance Service – Short Gardening Presentations

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Featured Work

A Japanese Themed Garden Design

Modern New Build Back Garden

Town House Garden in Hull

From artificial grass to cottage garden

Pond & Waterfall Redesign

Easy maintenance container garden

Shady back garden to wildlife haven

Small Lancashire back yard transformation

Small sloping front garden

Wildlife Garden in Lancashire

Cottage Garden in Bradford

Beautiful cascading waterfall and koi pond in Bradford

Why hire a garden designer?

So why do I need a garden designer?

This is a very common question and for good reason so let me explain.

Many people think of the world of garden design as an unattainable dream – to have a professional come and design a garden for you – but it doesn’t have to be this way. No garden is too big or too small to benefit from good design. Think of how much money you can spend year after year buying annual plants to fill your pots and planters and also buying plants that you love to look at but that do not survive in the place you put them. Sound familiar? Or buying plants at a great cost only to have a great ‘June’ garden but nothing for the rest of the year. If this sounds familiar then you could definitely benefit from engaging a garden designer. Money spent on engaging a good garden designer can save you a lot of money in the long run as the garden that is created is sustainable and long lived and can provide you with your desired year round interest. This can be achieved by incorporating a well- balanced mixture of evergreen structure and phased perennial flowering specimens to brighten up even the bleakest winter months. But it is not just about the planting, a good garden designer will tailor to your hard landscaping requirements and also consider lighting, seating and all the added extras!

The art of garden design takes into consideration several basic principles of design such as balance, proportion and colour. When you walk through a beautiful garden at different times of the year and are greeted with a fantastic show of differing colours, flowers, foliage and seed-heads this is probably not only mother nature in action but it may well be as a result of a well designed garden.

Special Interests
I am interested in Sensory Gardens.

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Great Garden Design

Great garden design can ensure that you do not just have a pretty garden for one or two months of the year. Many people have some plant knowledge and know what they like to see in their garden at certain times of the year, whether this be vibrant spring bulbs, reliable perennials or standard evergreens. But how many times have you bought a plant only to find that it did not come back the following year as expected or it did not survive when planted out in the garden? A garden designer’s job is not only to map out the landscape of the design for your garden but to ensure that all planting is suitable for the conditions. ‘Right plant, right place’ is a common mantra in garden design and you can save a lot of money year on year by choosing the right plant combinations and positions. I can help you to achieve this through one of my Planting Plan options – see Services for more information.

Another real benefit in engaging a garden designer is that I can maximise the space you have within your plot, advise you of the best materials to use for hard landscaping to create your desired layout and ensure that the work is completed by professional landscapers, decking specialists, electricians etc and I will project manage the entire process if this is what you require. Please see Services – Full Design Options.

One very important reason to consider engaging a garden designer (and the one that a lot of people do not even consider) is the potential value it can add to your home should you choose to sell. People think of installing a new kitchen, bathroom or conservatory into their home as a major investment but don’t particularly think the same of a well-designed garden. But they should do. Research has shown that a well-designed garden can increase your property price by 12-15% of its original value. Gardens are increasingly considered as an additional ‘room’ yet quite often they are many times larger than the rooms within the actual house. From a personal perspective I actually bought the house in which I currently reside because of the beautifully terraced garden and the potential I felt it had. Gardens really can sell houses!