A mown lawn and beech hedge looking out to the North Downs

A gardener for Caterham, on the Hill and in the Valley

Regular garden care across Caterham’s chalk valley and clay-capped hilltop, eight miles up from Horley.

If you’re looking for a gardener in Caterham, it helps to know the town is really two places. Caterham on the Hill is the old village, up on the downs. Caterham Valley grew round the station after the railway came up from Purley in 1856, and it’s where most of the shops are now. We’re a family firm based in Horley, about eight miles south, and we’ve been looking after gardens since 2004.

The two halves garden differently. The lowest ground, by the railway near the Croydon Road roundabout, is about 110 metres up. Gravelly Hill reaches 236. That’s a big climb inside one small town, and the soil changes on the way: shallow, lime-rich soil straight over chalk on the slopes, with clay and gravel capping much of the high ground.

So a lawn on the Hill and a lawn in the Valley rarely want the same thing in the same week. We plan visits with that in mind, and the same team turns up every time.

Garden services in Caterham.

What Caterham gardens ask for most

Most people here book regular maintenance: grass, edges, borders and hedges on a fortnightly round, with every clipping taken away. Chalk is the reason borders need more attention than you’d expect. It drains fast and eats through compost, so beds thin out and dry out by July unless they’re fed each year. Where clay sits on top, it’s the other way round. Lawns stay soft into spring and moss creeps in. The big Victorian and Edwardian houses in the valleys tend to come with mature hedges and long boundaries, and those make up a good chunk of our autumn and winter work.

Commercial grounds in Caterham

For a town of around 21,000 people, Caterham has a lot of flats. The 2011 census counted more than 2,500 across the two parishes. Add the old barracks, now The Village, the housing on the former St Lawrence’s Hospital land, care homes, schools and churches, and there’s plenty of shared ground to keep tidy. Sites like those get a written annual schedule and a fixed price, invoiced monthly or quarterly. Insurance certificates are available on request.

Grounds maintenance for Caterham businesses.

Annual contracts for blocks, offices, schools, care homes, churches and landlords.

Gardening in Caterham: your questions

Anything else, just ring. You’ll speak to the people who do the work.

Do you cover Caterham on the Hill and Caterham Valley?

Yes, both, and the villages round them. We fit Caterham gardens into a regular round out of Horley, so a small front lawn is just as easy to fit in as a big plot.

Is chalk soil hard to garden on?

It’s different rather than hard. Chalk drains well, so it’s rarely waterlogged, but it dries out fast and some shrubs, rhododendrons especially, won’t be happy in it. We’ll tell you what suits your plot and what’s fighting the soil.

How do I get a price?

Ring 07720 886244, Monday to Saturday between 7am and 6pm. We’ll come and look at the garden and give you a fixed quote, free. The price depends on size, access and how often you’d like us.