When it comes to designing a garden, fencing is a feature which you cannot afford to ignore. The borders of your garden will form an important part of the overall aesthetic. The materials you choose will contribute to the overall style, and anything that clashes with the rest of your garden will stick out like a sore thumb. At the same time, a sturdy fence will also serve as an invaluable security feature.

So, what are the choices available to you? As with any other garden feature, you will find no shortage of options for domestic fencing in terms of style, material and, perhaps most importantly, price. The amount of choice may seem overwhelming at first, but with enough research you should be able to find an attractive option perfectly suited to your price range.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the different types of garden fencing!

Choosing garden fencing

To choose the best type of fencing to suit you, it will be worth taking a second to consider exactly what your biggest priorities are. A typical garden fence will:

  • Add to the overall aesthetic
  • Keep intruders out
  • Provide privacy for your property
  • Keep pets and children from getting out
  • Create a windbreak to protect plants

You should also keep in mind exactly how much maintenance work you are willing to do for your fencing. Certain materials, particularly wood, will need to be treated fairly regularly if you want to keep them from rotting or becoming discoloured. Cheaper options will typically require more long term care, while more expensive options such as concrete or stone can mostly be left alone.

The best advice that we can give for choosing a garden fence material will be to spend a good amount of time researching your options. This may sound obvious, but the growth of websites like Pinterest has made it much easier for garden and home designers to share ideas. You could find that you can create the garden of your dreams for a fraction of the costs quoted by a professional, simply by choosing the right materials or utilising the perfect home hacks.

Garden fence ideas

  • Featherboard/ larch lap panel fencing – Neat, attractive and reasonably priced, featherboard or larch lap panel fencing is an enduringly popular choice for back gardens. The boards will typically be at least six feet high, offering an acceptable level of security and privacy. The downside is that they will not always stand up to strong forces such as powerful winds (or even, in some cases, clumsy neighbours), and you will also need to treat the wood on a fairly regular basis
  • Picket fencing – Traditional, decorative and oh-so-wholesome, picket fencing is very much a staple of ‘safe’ and ‘secure’ gardens. Choosing a cheaper type of wood such as PVC could also allow you to enjoy significant savings. Picket fencing tends to be a more popular choice in front gardens, however, as the limited height offers less privacy and security than other options
  • Hit & miss/ slatted fencing – There are far too many varieties of wooden fencing to cover in a single article, but it is definitely worth looking at each of your options (especially when considering upcycled materials like wooden sleepers). While these two options are attractive, they do not offer as much as far as privacy is concerned. The gaps between the boards could also provide more space for weeds to make their way into your garden
  • Concrete – Are you looking for fencing that will contribute more to your garden’s style for a fraction of the price? Concrete panels can come in a variety of different styles, and they can even mimic other materials such as natural stone or wood. However, while concrete will usually be a cheap substitute for other materials, such as natural stone, it also tends to be an obvious substitute. In other words, people will quickly be able to tell that you have chosen a cheap alternative. On the plus side, concrete is extremely low-maintenance

If you want to find the perfect material to suit the style of garden you have chosen, you will need to put the time in to research each of your options. The alternative will be to find an experienced local landscape designer; not only will they be familiar with the different materials and styles open to you, but they will also be able to source the required materials and tradesmen to have your fencing installed at a fair price.