Our Garden Transformation!

As wedding presents go the least expected one came from my (Sarah's) family. It goes without saying all the wedding presents we received were amazing, wonderful, thoughtful and appreciated but the transformation our garden went through was without a doubt the biggest, most thoughtful surprise.

Little did we know that when we left our house in the middle of June that we would be coming back to anything new. As we locked up and made sure everything was left tidy we had a quick look out at the garden and left. The garden looked like this:

However once my Mum arrived back from America she headed home, not to rest, to repack and head up to Birmingham with my Dad. Having taken 4 days off from work my Dad was joining a 2 man workforce who were to take our 'cell block' and turn it into this:

The work they put in over the 4 days is something we will forever be grateful for. We had drawn up plans with my Mum a few weekends before as she had seemed really interested in what we would do with the garden if we were to have grass. Little did we know we were actually drawing out plans fora garden we would shortly be getting!!!!

Then there was Andy our landscaper/gardener/builder/handyman and his Dad who popped round when my Mum was there to give us an idea for a quote - a quote that put it out of our reach for a few years - and then tell us he had so much work on the earliest he would be able to start was next April. At that point we were a little disappointed but accepted a garden would be a future plan not a short term plan. To note: My Mum had actually called Andy before and told him to lie to us as she had a plan.

Every challenge they faced - the fact the base of our garden was concrete not mud, the fact that our next door neighbour does shift work so they couldn't bang/drill etc until after after 3pm each day and the fact that it was peak summer so boiling hot has made us feel incredibly lucky.

We burst into tears the moment we saw the garden for the first time and we still have massive grins every time we sit out there or see it through a window. From the overall impact of having lawn to the fact that all the plants are pink and purple. Our love bird birdbath to our flying pigs, we love it all and it has seriously made our summer, in fact i'm sure it will make all our summers!

Our neighbours are watering the garden when we are working away and we are learning how to garden, having something to love and take care of has made this house even more amazing - something we never thought possible! We can't thank the aunts and uncles, my sister and her boyfriend and of course my parents for their generosity in funding the project and everyone who was involved in making it a reality. Seriously the best surprise we've ever had!