Garden staircases in Tunbridge Wells. Steps for the steepest gardens in Kent.

Tunbridge Wells gardens

Few towns in the South East have gardens as steep as those on the slopes above the Common and around Mount Ephraim and Camden Park. Victorian villas were built on terraces cut into the sandstone, and the gardens behind them step down in a series of walls, banks and outcrops. A staircase here is often less a single flight than a route: three or four short runs with landings, retaining sections and planting pockets between.

What works here

The sandstone outcrops that appear in so many gardens are a gift for design: a staircase can be threaded between rocks rather than blasted through them, and a painted steel flight sits well beside them. Where the ground is bedrock close to the surface we use pinned fixings rather than pads. For the smarter Victorian houses a painted finish in a heritage colour with slim vertical balusters keeps the staircase in period.

Conservation areas

Most of the older town is within a conservation area. Garden steps are generally still permitted development, but we check each address and advise if the council needs to be involved.

Nearby

Southborough, Langton Green, Pembury, Rusthall, Crowborough and the villages towards Tonbridge.

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