Front garden

The front garden is to be found in front of a house and is to be distinguished from the back garden.

Number and size of front gardens

In Britain there are over 7 million front gardens.

The shape and size of a garden are related to

* how far the property is from its neighbour
* its date of construction
* whether it is terraced, semi-detached or detached
* the value of land at the date of construction

Definition

A front garden arises from the distribution of land around a property. Typically, land will surround a property, unless it is semi-detached (sharing a single wall with a neighbouring property) or terraced (sometimes called row-housing), in which lateral walls are shared with two neighbouring properties.

That land on the side of the normal access route to the property is called the front garden.

The reason that there are fewer front gardens to back gardens is that, especially in older urban areas, houses were built directly on the street so there was no front garden.

A front garden gives access to a property by the most usual public route, and is usually situated on the road named in the property's postal address.

Formal and informal constraints

A front garden is a formal and semi-public space and so subject to the constraints of convention and law. The most formal aspect is probably the building line, a notional line that all properties in a road will have their front walls built to. Only houses built before the establishment of a building line will usually deviate from it, and its use is defined by planning (zoning) law.

Where the building line meets the property line, there is, of course, no front garden.

The local authority may make regulations about a front garden such as for:

* permitted structures
* the location of waste bins (and even if they may be placed there, and at what times)
* the location of motor-vehicles

Rules

Informal rules may govern what may be done in the front garden. Thus in some areas, gardening is not carried out in the front garden on a Sunday.

Boundaries

Front gardens will usually have a wall, hedge or fence which separates them from the road. In more recent estates since Second World War, no boundaries are defined physically (although tenure almost always relates to the property).

Functional uses

The front garden may be used for:

* location of front door, and hence the public access to a property
* placing the letter box
* plants and a lawn
* locating the entrance to a garage (but not usually the garage itself), especially if the garage is part of the property building.

References

* [http://www.readabout.com.au/garden-designs/ideas/having-a-beautiful-front-garden-design-161/ An Australian article about having a front garden]
* [http://www.capel.ac.uk/NGC/cottage/index.htm A front garden for a cottage from the National Garden centre]
* [http://www.frontgarden.org.uk/ The winners of a front garden competition in 2007]
* [http://www.grahamapavey.co.uk/frontgarden.htm Do's and dont's for the front garden]
* [http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:URxogK4a6moJ:www.rhs.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/CAAB7116-B48D-4FEB-A68A-B91730EFC07E/0/FrontGardens.pdf+%22front+garden%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8Advice Advice on front gardens from the Royal Horticultural Society]
* [http://www.davidcheethamgardens.co.uk/html/projects_1-1/FormalVictorianFrontGarden.htm A formal Victorian front garden]
* [http://www.landscapebotanica.com.au/portfolio/concord.htm Revival of an Australian front garden]