A Look Back at the Event-Full Year That Was 2024

2024: An Event-Full Year For The Arbour Landscape Solutions Team

Our mission, here at Arbour Landscape Solutions, is to supply the UK Landscape Industry with the materials needed to build amazing gardens. And we aim to do that as flexibly and intuitively as possible. 

We are proud of our ability to ‘second guess’ what products garden designers and landscapers will need to satisfy their clients’ thirst for unique, high quality, durable and stylish landscaping materials. And our MD, Richard Bickler, is a master of unearthing original materials from ethically run suppliers all around the world.

But how can one organisation do all that? How does Arbour Landscape Solutions know what’s trending, and how do they know where to find it? The answer lies in building strong relationships with garden designers, landscape architects, contractors, quarry masters, manufacturers, suppliers and even the hauliers who deliver great services.

Richard pops in to a well known tourist destination on his way to visit and assess an Egyptian Limestone quarry

Landscapers and garden designers enjoying an early evening supper at the Arbour Landscape Solutions summer event

Our Events program in 2024 afforded us some incredible opportunities to forge and strengthen relationships with the people who shape the UK Landscape Industry. And the beauty of it all, was that it felt like fun. It was pure pleasure to meet, entertain and learn from some incredibly talented people and we’re already planning more events for 2025. We hope you’ll be able to join us.

All ready for a presentation to Garden Designers' at the Yorkshire School Of Garden Design

Richard points out the features and benefits of paving materials at our Garden Designer Event in September 2024

Products and Materials - What Was Trending In 2024?

There can be no doubt whatsoever that natural stone saw a huge resurgence in popularity this year. And it’s been a joy to expand our range of Egyptian Limestone pavers, setts and steps as well as to curate some beautiful bespoke stone features on behalf of our clients.

Keeping with the theme of natural stone, this time for vertical landscaping, paddlestones have been extremely popular again this year. Used for retaining walls, step risers or filling for Gabion baskets these beauties emulate the natural landscape to bring texture and depth into a design. Discover how paddlestones are a garden designer's secret weapon for creating stunning outdoor spaces.

Clay pavers and natural stone setts are a must for the twenty-twenties. Limestone slim-setts with dual finishes have featured in a wide range of projects from gorgeous courtyard settings to larger terraces. We’ve been impressed at the variety of effects that imaginative landscapers have created using such a simple product. New for 2025 - take a look at our split faced limestone walling - sumptuous! 
 

Clever combination of natural stone steps with paddlestone risers. Great work by Pen and Barrow.

When the cat adopts as space as it's own, you know you've done a good job! Lovely garden designed by Judy Shardlow and featuring natural stone throughout. More pics on our case study.

Pergolas And Garden Rooms

With the cost of moving home rising rapidly and a scarcity of tradespeople to build extensions, many homeowners have opted to create extra living space in their gardens. 

Pergolas from Caribbean Blinds and luxurious garden rooms from Aoba are popular choices with Arbour Landscape Solutions customers. We love their high standards of customer service and the fact that they work with designers and clients to build exactly what is required.

Giving Back To The Industry

Nobody on the Arbour Landscape Solutions team would ever want to work anywhere but the landscape industry. We all of us love the camaraderie, the support and the common goal of creating beautiful, safe and functional outdoor spaces that benefit the wellbeing of anybody who spends time in them.

This year, we are proud to have sponsored a new online magazine promoting industry best practices. The purpose of this free to view publication is to support garden designers and landscapers with up to date information and also to educate the general public on how to avoid wasting resources on poor quality workmanship.

Please take a look at https://paving.site to learn more about this incredible resource. And, if you have any work you’re particularly proud of, why not submit it for inclusion in the gallery.

Ricard Bickler is listed as a landscaping materials consultant on the PGCA website where he is described as a ‘great problem solver’. Unlike many consultants however, Richard rarely charges a fee for his advice. This year, and every year, he has offered free technical advice to garden designers and landscapers who have questions that need answering. 

Arbour Landscape Solutions supports several charities, but Greenfingers is a particular favourite. A proportion of the profit generated by sales of stock products is donated to Greenfingers every year. And so we’d like to thank our amazing customers who have helped us to raise funds for this amazing charity. Click here to learn more about Greenfingers and they work they do. 

Getting Social

Followers of Arbour Landscape Solutions social media profiles will know that we’re prolific in celebrating and sharing our client’s work, new product innovations, technical advice and inspirational gardens. In fact, this year, we’ve posted over 1200 times across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Linkedin, YouTube and Pinterest

What’s on in 2025?

We have so many ideas for 2025 and our upcoming events page is filling up fast. But we’re not going to give you any spoilers just yet. Well - OK - just one.

For 2025, we are launching our ‘Spotlight’ features, introducing you to some of the most talented and influential people in our industry. We’ll be sharing their work with you, letting them tell you what inspires and motivates them, and digging deep to discover what they most enjoy about creating gardens.

If you would like your work featured in this series of articles, we’d love to hear from you.  Simply send Anna an email l to start the conversation and we’ll do the rest.

It only remains for all of us to thank you for engaging with Arbour Landscape Solutions in 2024 wish to you a heartfealt "Happy New Year" for 2025. We look forward to meeting up with at events or 'on the road'.