So you want to design a Japanese Garden -

Well, what is it you really want?

Is it a true to period Japanese structure, with Mount Fuji in the background, or an impression of style, elegance and basically easy maintenance?

We in the UK enjoy dabbling in cultures, Indian, French, Chinese, Japanese. Its nice to take a little of their style and apply it to our own existences.

You will no doubt be constrained by the type of area you have - you may be really lucky and have unlimited area in which to create your own serenity, but generally, most of us are not that lucky.

We like Japanese Gardens because they are easy maintenance, they have a style that immediately says something about their creators, and they are not overpowering.

We can look for unusual items to place into our Japanese area - we can introduce fish, be it humble goldfish or expensive Koi - but they have a presence and place because they are within a setting.

Setting is most important, many of us move houses, and your setting changes frequently. It is nice to easily recreate the form and sentiment of our previous existences and isn't that what the Japanese garden is all about? - just letting time continue. So, you can pick up your statues, pick up your lanterns, and with a bit of thought - move them and reposition them as your would move your furniture.

Some of our pieces will be maturing nicely outside, the granite taking on a different hue, possibly growing lichen and moss - so why not? - they are as much a part of you as your pictures and paintings.

You have so many options to start making a space your own, from garden statues to water features. The noise and clean air around a little stream is beautiful, and it's the little touches that turn a pebbled area into a Japanese island of retreat - the items which are perhaps difficult to pronounce but get easier after a glass of wine.

If these items are well made, and of tradition, they stand the test of time. Not many items can ascribe to such heights but we hope ours will.

Our advice is free and perhaps we can give you a few ideas and possibly even come up with some solutions.

Spencer Lane

2004

JapanGarden.co.uk