Case study: A full front-garden transformation in Bolton.
Bolton is our home town -- so when Adam asked us to redesign and rebuild his front garden, the stakes were always going to feel personal. His brief was open: do something special, take the whole garden from front to back, and make it work all year round. The exis...
Project at a glance Verified Wolsten build
- Property type
- Front-garden full design build -- Bolton
- Time on site
- 4 days
- Pile height
- Premium artificial turf
- Subbase
- MOT + sand subbase, 3 French drains
- Surrounds
- Raised sleeper retaining wall + sleeper step
- Finish
- Kiln-dried sand top-dress
- Customer
- Adam
Why Adam called us.
Bolton is our home town -- so when Adam asked us to redesign and rebuild his front garden, the stakes were always going to feel personal. His brief was open: do something special, take the whole garden from front to back, and make it work all year round. The existing lawn was tired, the ground sloped badly, drainage was poor, and the space lacked any real visual feature.
What we ended up with became one of our favourite builds of the year. A full design-and-build: 3 French drains, a bespoke raised sleeper retaining wall with integrated LED strip lighting, a sleeper-style step onto the raised lawn, and a premium artificial turf finish across the whole footprint. Four days on site. Fixed price £2,950.
What we did.
A full redesign before the spade went in -- then four days of building, with electrical work integrated into the sleeper retaining wall.
The build sequence:
- Cleared the original front-garden lawn back to subgrade
- Levelled the full footprint -- significant earthworks for the slope correction
- Installed 3 French drains across the lower half of the garden
- Delivered and dry-fitted the timber sleepers for the raised retaining wall
- Built the raised sleeper bed -- spirit-levelled, screw-fixed, end-capped
- Installed a sleeper-style step onto the raised lawn area
- Ran 2.5mm SWA armoured cable from a house feed and channelled into the sleeper wall
- Wired and integrated LED strip lighting beneath the sleeper-bed lip -- waterproof, low-voltage
- Laid the MOT + sand subbase across the lawn footprint, whacker-compacted
- Rolled out and pinned the premium artificial turf, joins invisible
- Kiln-dried sand top-dressed; planters and decorative finish to complete
Four days. One front garden that genuinely turns heads on the street. Three friend-referrals already off the back of it. The kind of job that pays its way back over and over.
The whole project, in four shots.
Real photos from the actual Bolton job.
The original tired front-garden lawn -- no feature, sloped, poor drainage.
Sleeper walls going up -- spirit-levelled, drilled and through-bolted.
Subbase compacted, premium turf rolling out, LED channel already routed.
Four days later -- raised sleeper bed with integrated LED, planters, premium lawn.What Adam said.
The team designed the full garden, it's now something so different and just makes me smile every time I look at it -- I have already recommended the guys to 3 friends.
Every detail of the Bolton build.
The full set of photos taken throughout the project.
For the discerning homeowner.
What we actually built into this install.
Why integrate LED lighting into the sleeper wall -- and the spec that does it safely
Integrated LED strip lighting under a sleeper-bed lip transforms a garden after dusk -- you get a soft glow that picks out the timber detail without flooding the lawn. The catch: it has to be wired safely. Mains-voltage strip behind timber is a fire risk. We ran 2.5mm SWA (steel-wire-armoured) cable from a feed inside Adam's house, into a weatherproof transformer, then low-voltage 12V to IP67-rated LED strip mounted in an aluminium channel under the sleeper lip. Specced this way it's safe, dimmable, and fully replaceable without ripping out the sleeper wall.
3 French drains across a sloped front garden
Adam's garden sloped down to the front -- which sounds like good drainage but actually makes it worse: water sheets across the surface, ponds at the lowest point, then sits there because the underlying clay won't take it. We installed 3 French drains across the lower half: perforated pipes in gravel-filled trenches, falling toward the existing drainage at the property edge. Together with the MOT subbase they take all surface water away within minutes of a downpour.
Sleeper retaining walls -- the spec that lasts 20 years
Treated oak sleepers aren't cheap, and you only build a retaining wall like this once. We end-capped, drilled and through-bolted every sleeper with M12 stainless coach screws into a hardcore footing. The lighting channel was routed into the underside of the lip before assembly so the wall looks seamless. Spirit-levelled in three dimensions -- it'll still be reading true ten years from now.
Designing the whole garden -- not just laying turf
Adam's brief was "do something different." That meant treating the whole space as one composition: where the step goes, how the planters sit against the raised bed, where the lighting picks up at dusk. Most AG installers turn up, dig a hole, lay turf, leave. We design first when the brief warrants it -- and that's why Adam's already referred three friends. The finished result has to earn the referrals before they happen.
Three founders, plus extended crew when the job calls for it.
Liam, Ryan and Paul on every job. Where the work needs more hands, we bring in trusted regulars.
Liam
Surveyed and quoted. Supervised the build on site.
Ryan
Time-served bricklayer and artificial grass install lead.
Paul
Cut the timber surrounds and handled the finish detail.
Bolton
Bolton is well covered by our North West service area. We install artificial grass right across Greater Manchester -- usually within 30 minutes drive of our Westhoughton base.
Questions homeowners ask about artificial grass installs like this.
How long does an artificial grass install take?
This Bolton job took 4 days. Most North West artificial grass installs run 2-4 days depending on garden size and ground conditions. Drainage rescues (like Lisa's Westhoughton job) can add a day for French drain installation.
Is 'fake grass' the same as artificial grass?
Yes -- fake grass, artificial grass, astro turf, synthetic lawn: all names for the same product family. Whatever you call it, the quality difference isn't the name -- it's the pile density, the backing, and above all the sub-base it's installed on. A premium turf laid over a poorly compacted base will fail years before a mid-range turf on a proper one.
Will the joins between rolls be visible?
Not if they're done right. We use proper jointing tape + adhesive and match the pile direction across the seam. From a metre away the joins are invisible.
What's the lifespan of a properly-installed artificial grass lawn?
8-12 years on a properly compacted MOT subbase. The variables are pile quality, subbase compaction, and whether the perimeter is properly bordered. Lawns where installers cheap out on subbase often need replacing within 3-4 years -- which is why we never cut that corner.
Do I need to do any maintenance on artificial grass?
Very little. Brush the pile occasionally to keep it standing upright, top up the kiln-dried sand every 2-3 years, and rinse it off after the dog. That's it. Compared to a real lawn (mowing, feeding, edging, reseeding), the time saving is huge.
Do I need planning permission for artificial grass?
Almost never for a rear garden. Front-garden non-permeable surfacing over 5m² CAN trigger planning, but rear gardens fall under permitted development.
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