Ideas for this area....especially a focal point

a stone sun dial . .. see the solar options back in.

Wait until you get the inspiration... if you do it now when you are not sure a year or so along the line you'll be saying 'I wish I'd...' Which way does the bed face?

large grass like pampas or something?

Not sure about directions! The lawn is in full sun most of the day, and the sun sets behind the corner of the fence, so casts a slight shadow in the evening time.
It has been sitting for about a year. I have had lots of inspiration, but it all involves running water, and digging up the tarmac is not an option, but would be the only way of getting power to it.

you can disc cut an inch wide track in the tarmac ,lay cable and then pour bitumen back in to seal it ,like they do at traffic light junctions sometimes, another way is to lay traffic calming rubber blocks across the tarmac and install cable under it.

If you are into alpine plants a scree/crevice bed could look fab.

I would like it to be quite a showy colourful area. I hope to put hydrangea and rhodendron at the back & forest flame. I have some hostas and heucheras for low foliage at the front, some spring and summer bulbs through it, and see where it goes from there. Tarmac is only down 1 year, so dont want to dig it up at all. In hindsight we should've left cables out, but its our first house so didnt think at the time!

if anyone has any pictures of ideas, I would be very grateful, as I find it very hard to picture it.

a company called Grundomat have a machine called a mole we use it in our industry , your local gas and water company guyswould use it (if you know any) basically you dig a hole one side of the tarmac and one the other and the mole tunnels under creating a 40mm hole that you canpush a cable through , for this you would need to know your existing utility runs through the tarmac so the mole wouldnt hit it.

Thanks maccimmon, I will look into that. We would need to drill into the house for the mains, or else take the cable around the corner of the house, to the garage at the back where the power unit is. Again, neither are ideal options!

I agree that a sundial would look lovely here, surrounded by your favourite plants. Especially as the houses in this area look very new - ? - it would add a bit of history and interest.
You could do that now, and still change yr mind if you decide to do the cable/water biz later. Whenever you get inspired and can picture it!
Not the pampas grass.

what height of sundial were you thinking, they are not something I am familiar with. Also, how would I level out the ground under it.

Sounds like you have acid soil there. I sometimes wish I did.

If your patch is in full sun most of the day..why is the solar option out? It should be fine and there's some truly gorgeous solar water features around now.

Hi Shell - if you'd like something unique, I came across a guy who sells driftwood scuptures. I have just had mine delivered. If you look at my blog you will see a few of his pieces - his website will also give you the idea of what sort of things he has - remember that mine was chosen for a specific area of my garden - and anyway, it's MINE now!

He had a lovely upright grained one which would look great as a focal point in your garden amongst plants.

All his details are in the blog. I just thought I'd l pass the idea on as I love my sculpture!

Thanks for the suggestions. The reason I am sort of ruling out the solar option is because although the lawn is in full sun all day, we dont get too many days with sun.

Spritzhenry the driftwood is really remarkable and unique. Only thing is I am in Northern ireland, and the selection online seems to be quite limited.

Just a thought - the site is quite near the pavement. Suggest, whatever you decide to do, keep it away from the fence so people on the way home from the pub can't take your focal point home with them! Or make it *very* heavy!!

Its an end house, so there is no "traffic" going by it. Its an ok area, so that wouldnt concern me at the minute.