Garden design & landscaping · Harpenden, Hertfordshire
Gardens designed and built by the man whose name is on the van.
Matthew Gore has spent twenty years designing and building gardens across Hertfordshire — walls and steps, driveways and patios, planting and pools. It is a genuinely owner-led firm: Matt is on your project from the first sketch to the last planted border, which is why every one of our thirty-seven five-star Google reviews mentions him by name.
Owner-led · designed & built by Matthew Gore · twenty years' experience
The name on the reviews is the name on the van
“Matt suggested…” · “Matt and his team…” · “professionally managed and directed…”
Every one of our 37 five-star Google reviews mentions Matthew Gore personally
20 years
Matt's own hands-on experience
Owner-led
Matt on every job, start to finish
Design & build
one team from drawing to planting
5.0 · 37 reviews
every one names Matt personally
Owner-led · Harpenden · twenty years' experience
One person answerable for the whole garden.
Matthew Gore Ltd is a Hertfordshire garden design and landscaping firm founded and run by Matthew Gore, who has spent twenty years learning what makes a garden work — and what makes one last. What sets a project apart is rarely a single feature; it is whether one person carries the whole thing, so the levels, the drainage, the hard landscaping and the planting all belong to the same considered scheme rather than a set of separate jobs handed between trades.
That is how Matt works. He develops his own designs and also builds for other garden designers, and he stays across the project from the first site visit to the final planted border. It is not a claim we have to make for ourselves — read the thirty-seven five-star reviews behind us and you will find they all come back to the same person: Matt suggested, Matt managed, Matt and his team. That is what owner-led actually means.
Design and build, together
Matt develops his own designs and also builds for other garden designers. Doing both is what lets him see, at the sketch stage, what will actually work on the ground — so the design and the build belong to one considered scheme.
One person answerable
Owner-led means Matt is across the project from the first site visit to the last planted border. When one person carries the whole garden, nothing gets lost between trades — and you always know who you're dealing with.
Twenty years of it
Two decades designing and building Hertfordshire gardens is why the 37 five-star Google reviews behind us come back to the same words: professional, meticulous, attention to detail, and always tidy at the end of the day.
What we do
From the design
to the last planted border.
01
Garden design
Matt's own designs, or building beautifully for the designer you've already engaged — one considered scheme from drawing to planting.
02
Garden walls, steps & raised planters
Walls, steps, raised planters and built-in seats — the brick and stone structure that gives a garden its shape.
03
Driveways & resin
Block-paved, gravel and resin driveways set on a proper base — including the resin drives our clients keep writing home about.
04
Patios, paths & decking
Indian sandstone, porcelain, natural paving and timber or composite decking — the terraces and routes a garden is built around.
05
Fencing
Closeboard, panel and bespoke fencing set straight and firm — the boundaries and screens that frame the whole garden.
06
Soft landscaping — lawn & planting
Lawns laid and beds planted so the finished garden reads as one design — the layer that makes hard landscaping come alive.
07
Pool surrounds & renovation
Paved and resin pool surrounds, and the renovation of tired pools — the setting that makes a pool part of the garden.
Why clients write, unprompted
“I don't normally do reviews but after 5 months of enjoying our fantastic new resin driveway laid by Matt and his team I just had to! All was professionally managed and directed from the initial query to quote to explanation of the process.”
★★★★★ — Chris Broadbent, via Google
Recent work
Real Hertfordshire gardens, in clients' words.
A resin driveway still enjoyed five months on
“I don't normally do reviews but after 5 months of enjoying our fantastic new resin driveway laid by Matt and his team I just had to! All was professionally managed and directed from the initial query to quote to explanation of the process.”
★★★★★ — Chris Broadbent, via Google
Ideas that improved the plans
“Matt suggested some great ideas to improve the plans I'd had drawn up — these improved the overall look and design so glad he made them. Excellent attention to detail and quality. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others — 5*”
★★★★★ — Ellie R, via Google
Kept updated, and lots of compliments since
“They kept us updated throughout, made helpful suggestions and left the garden clean and tidy at the end of the day/weekends etc. We've had lots of compliments on the work they have done.”
★★★★★ — Keely Rushmore, via Google
Meticulous, and loving the new garden
“The team were incredibly professional, efficient and meticulous in their work! We are incredibly happy with the finished product and are loving our new garden!”
★★★★★ — Kristen Broome, via Google
How it works
Consultation, build, planting.
01
Consultation & design
Matt comes out, walks the space with you, and talks through how you want to use the garden — where the sun falls, how you'll move through it, what needs screening and what deserves to be seen. He develops his own designs, and where you've already had plans drawn up he'll often suggest refinements: as one client put it, 'Matt suggested some great ideas to improve the plans I'd had drawn up.' Then a clear, no-obligation quote.
02
Groundwork & build
One team carries the build — the walls, steps, driveway, patio, fencing and decking — with the base and levels set properly before any finish goes down. Clients single out how professionally the work is managed: 'all was professionally managed and directed from the initial query to quote to explanation of the process, and then the careful and tidy excavations to the final lay and finish.' Kept clean and tidy at the end of every day.
03
Planting & handover
Soft landscaping ties the scheme together — lawns laid and beds planted so the garden reads as one design, not a hard shell waiting to be filled. We walk the finished garden with you and leave it clean and tidy. Clients tell us they get 'lots of compliments on the work' afterwards — the mark of a garden built to be lived in and enjoyed for years.
In their words
Professional, meticulous, and always tidy at the end of the day.
A perfect 5.0 average across 37 Google reviews.
“The team were incredibly professional, efficient and meticulous in their work! We are incredibly happy with the finished product and are loving our new garden!”
“They kept us updated throughout, made helpful suggestions and left the garden clean and tidy at the end of the day/weekends etc. We've had lots of compliments on the work they have done.”
“Matt suggested some great ideas to improve the plans I'd had drawn up — these improved the overall look and design so glad he made them. Excellent attention to detail and quality. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others — 5*”
“They worked hard & efficiently and finished the job ahead of schedule. The team were all so friendly, professional and diligent — making sure they kept the space tidy at the end of every day.”
Where we work
Harpenden based, across Hertfordshire.
From our base on Luton Road in Harpenden, Matthew Gore Ltd designs and builds gardens across Hertfordshire and the surrounding counties — St Albans, Wheathampstead, Redbourn, Kimpton, Berkhamsted, Welwyn, Hitchin and the villages between. Being genuinely local, and having worked these gardens for twenty years, means Matt knows the soil, the light and the character of the homes here.
- Harpenden
- St Albans
- Wheathampstead
- Redbourn
- Kimpton
- Berkhamsted
- Welwyn
- Hitchin
Planning a new garden, driveway or patio?
Send the details and Matt will come back to you.