Garden Maintenance
Gardeners
Regular gardening works best when the same people keep coming back. Our gardeners look after gardens across Cheltenham, Gloucester and the wider Cotswolds on weekly, fortnightly and monthly visits — and because it is the same team each time, nobody needs telling twice where the bulbs are or which shrub is being nursed back.
George-Stone Gardens
Gardeners who get to know the garden.
Regular gardening works best when the same people keep coming back. Our gardeners look after gardens across Cheltenham, Gloucester and the wider Cotswolds on weekly, fortnightly and monthly visits — and because it is the same team each time, nobody needs telling twice where the bulbs are or which shrub is being nursed back.
We are an employed team rather than a list of subcontractors: uniformed, fully insured, and equipped with our own professional machinery and transport. Visits are planned around what the garden needs that month rather than a fixed list repeated all year, and everything we cut leaves with us.
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The Same Gardeners, Every Visit
Continuity is the part of a gardening service that is hard to buy and easy to underestimate. A gardener who has been coming for three years knows where the snowdrops are before they show, which climber is trained to which wire, that the hydrangea by the back door gets cut in spring and not autumn, and which corner of the lawn floods after heavy rain. None of that survives a rotating crew.
So we send the same people, in uniform, with their own machinery, transport, fuel and water — nobody arrives expecting to borrow your tools or your outside tap. We are fully insured, with £5M public liability cover. If you are comparing gardeners, ask any of them for certificates and insurance before work starts; anyone running a proper business will have them to hand, and we're happy to send ours over.
What a Regular Visit Actually Covers
A visit is planned around the month rather than worked through as a fixed checklist. In April that might be edging, first cuts, dividing perennials and getting on top of weeds before they seed; in July, deadheading, tying in, watering pots and keeping the hedges in shape; in October, leaf clearance, cutting back and putting the garden to bed. The same two hours spent well in spring saves considerably more in July.
Time on site is finite, so we agree what matters most to you and work to that — some clients want the lawn immaculate above all else, others care about the borders and are happy for the grass to be functional. We'll tell you what we did and what we think is next, and every bit of what we cut, pull or prune leaves with us rather than going on a heap behind the shed.
Pruning, Hedges and Knowing When to Cut
Pruning is where an experienced gardener earns their keep, because most of it is about timing rather than effort. Cut a spring-flowering shrub in February and you remove the flowers before they open; take a third out of an overgrown shrub each year for three years and you rejuvenate it, where shearing the lot back at once may kill it. Hedges are cut according to species and growth pattern, and never during the nesting season when a nest is in use — active nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Just as useful is knowing where a gardener should stop. Large tree work belongs with an arborist, not a gardener on a ladder; trees with a Preservation Order or in a conservation area need permission before anyone touches them; and Japanese knotweed needs identifying rather than strimming. We'll tell you what we have found and who should deal with it, even when that is somebody other than us.
Lawns, Edges and Leaving It Tidy
For most gardens the lawn sets the tone, so it gets the attention. Cutting heights are adjusted through the season and raised in hot, dry spells so the grass can hold on to moisture rather than scorching; clippings are collected; edges are cut back to a clean line, which is the single change that makes the biggest difference to how finished a garden looks. Much of the ground around Cheltenham is heavy clay that compacts and bakes, so scarifying and aeration at the right point in the year matter more here than they do on lighter soil.
The last ten minutes of a visit is the part people actually notice. Paths, terraces and drives are blown down and swept, cuttings picked out of borders, gates shut and tools accounted for. A garden that has been worked on should look cared for when we leave, not like a job that ran out of time.
How It Works Around You
Most domestic gardens take a weekly or fortnightly visit from March to December and little or nothing over the depths of winter; larger gardens and commercial grounds usually run year-round. We agree the frequency, the day and roughly the time, confirm the dates ahead, and invoice monthly for what has been done. Keys, gate codes, dogs and where to park are all worth sorting at the start, and once they are we can simply get on with it whether you are in or not.
We also cover holidays and one-off help — a few weeks while you're away, a tidy before visitors, or getting a let or a second home back under control between tenancies. The quiet benefit of having somebody in the garden every fortnight is that problems get spotted early: a slipped fence panel, a dripping outside tap, honey fungus in a hedge, box blight starting on one plant. All of those cost far less to deal with in the month they appear.
Our Work
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Everything You Need to Know
From our process to project timelines, find answers to all your questions about working with George-Stone Gardens.
George-Stone Gardens — the facts
Established 2007 · Cheltenham, Gloucestershire · gsgardens.co.uk · 01242 234 929
Awards & accreditations
- RHS Gold Medal — Landscaping and build. Awarded at Tatton Park Flower Show 2023 for construction excellence. Judges cited near-faultless build standards.
- Chartered Institute of Horticulture — Gareth holds CIHort chartered professional status.
- BALI member — British Association of Landscape Industries.
- Approved Jacksons Fencing installers — trained in acoustic, timber, and security fencing systems.
Team credentials
- Laura — Principal Garden Designer. Trained at the Royal Gardens at Highgrove. Graduated under Robin Templar-Williams, 5-time RHS Gold Medallist.
- Callum — Principal Landscaper. RHS Gold Medal recipient for construction precision at Tatton Park Flower Show 2023.
- Kirsty McGeorge and Ian Stone — Co-founders. RHS Gold Medal recipients. Combined 35+ years in landscape design and construction.
Investment
- Projects from £40,000. Complete garden transformations typically £40,000 to £100,000+. Design, landscaping, and build are incorporated within a single integrated project.
- 24-month establishment support available as an optional extra following project completion.
Service area
- Primary area: Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Cirencester, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Chipping Campden.
- Extended coverage: within 45 minutes of Cheltenham across Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds AONB.
- Listed and conservation area experience across Grade II properties and AONB sites throughout the region.
Start the Conversation
Every garden starts differently. We begin by listening — about your property, how you live, and what you are hoping this outdoor space could become. You may have a clear brief or just a feeling that something needs to change. Both are the right place to start a landscaping project.
We respond to all enquiries personally. We'll get back to you within one working day.