Although they can be expensive to develop, a sloping garden can be absolutely stunning if done well.

• If retaining walls are needed, keep them to a minimum.
• Try to achieve a balance throughout your garden, with the soil you remove from one part added to another area.
• Smaller sloping gardens ideally suit a Mediterranean style, and the superior drainage is ideal for Mediterranean plants too.
• Why not add steps which double-up as seating?
• Small unit paving as well as decorative stones and gravels suit
  sloping gardens.

The way you treat a slope should depend on whether the slope
goes up or down.

Uphill slopes

• Make changes of level gradual, thus minimising the need for retaining walls.
• Make the walls into features. Curve them to add interest, use them as steps or even as buttresses.

Downhill slopes

• Downhill slopes often look better with gentle curves and slopes that are gradual.
• Walls and steps will seem minimal when viewed from the house, but become a focal point when looking back toward the house.