Area guide · Llandaff
Garden design in Llandaff
Ten minutes up the Taff from our yard. Cathedral views, century-old trees, lias stone walls — and a conservation area that rewards doing things properly.
What Llandaff gardens ask of us
Working in Llandaff means working with what's already there. The plots around the Cathedral Green, Bridge Street and the High Street come with inherited bones — old fruit trees, stone boundaries, levels that step down towards the Taff. Our first job is usually surgical rather than sweeping: which walls to repair, which canopies to raise, where a hundred-year-old path is worth keeping.
The soil helps: river-terrace loam, kinder than the clay east of the city. The shade does the editing for us — Llandaff gardens push you towards texture and green architecture over bedding-plant colour, and honestly, they're better for it. Think ferns against limestone, clipped yew, a mown path through longer grass under the apple tree.
Recent Greenford work in Llandaff
- Walled garden off the High Street — lime-mortar wall repairs, woodland borders, new hoggin path
- Oak-sleeper steps and shade planting under a TPO copper beech near Insole Court
- Rectory-style lawn and orchard edit for a house on Bridge Fields — mown paths, bulbs in the long grass
Project references available on request. Demo content — projects are illustrative.
Llandaff questions
Asked by Llandaff gardeners
Do I need permission for landscaping in the Llandaff conservation area?
Often, yes — Llandaff’s conservation area covers much of the village, and works to walls, railings and trees can need consent from Cardiff Council. Many trees also carry TPOs. We flag anything that needs permission at the design stage and prepare the drawings the council asks for; allow four to eight weeks for a decision.
What do you plant in the shade of Llandaff’s mature trees?
Llandaff gardens live under big canopies — beech, lime and cedar. We plant in layers that enjoy it: ferns, epimediums, hellebores and woodland grasses in dry shade, with hydrangeas and camellias where roots allow more moisture. The trick is treating the shade as the garden’s character, not its problem.
Can you repair or rebuild old stone garden walls in Llandaff?
Yes. The village’s lias limestone boundary walls are part of what makes it, and in a conservation area like-for-like repair is usually the requirement anyway. We rebuild in reclaimed stone with lime mortar — never hard cement, which traps moisture and spalls the old stone.
Also nearby: landscaping in Penarth · the full portfolio
A Llandaff garden to untangle?
Conservation paperwork included. Book a visit — we’ll walk it, wall by wall.