"Help! Can you change my garden from an unattractive grassland into a visual delight?" GAETANA PRASSEDE looks at one couple's horticultural makeover

TAKE one neglected back garden, a design team and £2,000 to spend, now what have you got? The potential to create garden luxury in a small corner of Hedge End.

After scooping first prize in the Daily Echo and Ruscrete Garden Makeover competition last year - Pam and Neville Hoare hardly recognise the transformed piece of land, which they once called their back garden, in Freegrounds Road.

Thanks to the efforts of the Ground Force South team - the retired couple are looking forward to a New Year in their new-look garden.

Ruscrete General Manager Geoff Sim said: "We had an eight page advertisement feature in the Echo, and part of that was the £2,000 for 2000 competition.

"We received in excess of 1,000 entries and Mr and Mrs Hoare were the first name out of the hat - after arranging the prize with them we sent out a designer and a builder to survey the area and come up with a new look".

Then it was a case of full steam ahead when the team moved in to set about changing the face of Pam and Neville's lawn using materials supplied by the stone and paving centre in Rushington Business Park, Totton .

Neville said: "My wife and I are delighted to have won the Ruscrete Garden Makeover Competition.

"An unattractive expanse of grassland has been transformed into an area of visual delight by the expertise of the designer's Robert Hoskins and Shaun Doswell and his team from Ground Force South, who carried out the work".

After a mountain of problems, from weather conditions to the fuel crisis - the team finally got underway last September.

Ground Force South landscaper Shaun Doswell said: "When we first started there was just rough lawn.

"We were given a drawing by Rob, the designer, and then assessed the property, taking things like access into consideration when planning the garden".

The team tackled quite a large area at the rear of the flats, clearing away rubbish and then landscaping.

Shaun added: "With the hard landscaping we started laying the paving, putting up the pergola and laying the paving slabs and the gravel.

"Then to complete the garden we began the soft landscaping - putting in the plants and adding the finishing touches."

The couple live in a maisonette with a communal garden so the team needed to ensure that the design was met with approval by everyone living there.

And the experts hand-crafted their own benches creating three seated areas.

Neville added: "We now have a compact trellised garden patio area with a pergola, supplemented by the planting of the new plants and trees to appreciate and enjoy. The garden is now a pleasure to look out onto."

If you would like to find out more about Ruscrete, visit their website at www.ruscrete.co.uk