Gardens are a place of solace and sanctuary... until the tranquility is shattered by prying eyes, overlooking windows, and next door's kids shrieking on their trampoline.
New build gardens, with no planting and little mature vegetation in surrounding gardens, can be particularly exposed.
Don't give up on the vision of a cosy, private outdoor space! Instead, use these tips to design a garden seating area that feels like a secluded retreat, no matter how overlooked.
Garden bean bags are a clever choice for outdoor seating in an overlooked garden. Designed to be low profile they naturally lower your seating position, helping to shield you from sightlines whilst emphasising the screening effect of surrounding plants. Unlike rigid garden furniture, outdoor bean bags mould around your body creating a cocooning effect that enhances a sense of cosiness, safety, and seclusion. Lightweight and easy to move, they can be repositioned throughout the garden to take advantage of different privacy spots, sun angles, or sheltered corners.
Is 6ft fencing the best solution to an overlooked garden?
When neighbours or a public pathway overlook your garden, a tall fence may feel like the only option to achieve a private outdoor idyll.
Panel fencing is certainly one option but be aware that fences over 6ft (2 metres) may require planning permission, and they can shade your garden horribly. Plus, any second-floor windows of surrounding homes will still be peering down at you.
High walls and tall fences can, all too easily, make a garden feel claustrophobic – more prison than private retreat.
Instead, careful planting and clever placement of outdoor seating can create the illusion of privacy.
I strongly recommend that you first pinpoint where you are most overlooked. Stroll around your outdoor space and take note of the sightlines with neighbouring windows and surrounding public thoroughfares. If you couldn't see a figure in the window – without them leaning out and waving at you – then they can't see you. You may be surprised at how the angle of sight grants you more privacy than you expect.
Find the zones in your garden where you have fewer sightlines. Can these spots be used to your advantage as your outdoor seating areas?
Tucked up against a wall, outdoor seating may not be viewable from overlooking windows. With a lightweight modular sofa it is possible to try different arrangements and seating designs to enhance privacy.
Create a sense of privacy by focusing on cosy
(i) more achievable, and
(ii) less likely to come with unintended consequences, like blocked light or angry neighbours who hate the tall fences you’ve added.
I think the garden transformation below, by Nick and Doug at The Distinctive Gardener, is a wonderful example of bringing cosiness into an overlooked garden.
Pleach trees gently break up the view of overlooking windows, with planting in front for a double wrapping effect that enhances the garden oasis. Wafty perennials are layered close to the seating, drawing the eye into the garden (rather than out at the neighbouring houses), and creating a translucent screen to views from the side. Image credit: The Distinctive Gardener.
Eight Steps to a Cosy Garden
To achieve a similar effect in your overlooked garden, here are eight practical tips to create the feeling of privacy by enhancing cosiness in your outdoor space.
1. Break up the view
Sightlines from windows can be broken up by trees, structures (like arches or corten steel features), and carefully positioned planting.
This approach is not about blocking a view entirely but softening and distracting from it.
Trees add height and a feeling of enclosure – but do your research and pick the right tree for your available space.
Avoid the temptation to plant tall trees along your garden boundary. You'll need to let them grow up to screen neighbouring windows which takes time. They will then, more than likely, cast your garden into shade.
It's more effective to use a smaller tree, planted close to your seating area, to block the angle of sight. (This is where all that trigonometry you learned at school becomes useful!)
Sara Jane Rothwell, from London Garden Designer, placed this multi-stem Indian Bean tree in front of two chairs to create a cosy spot for conversation. The tree acts as both a focal feature to be enjoyed by those sitting and as a break in the sightline of overlooking windows to the left. Placing the chairs close to the fence provides screening to the windows on the right. Image credit: London Garden Designer
Saying that, when screening is preferred along a garden boundary, pleach trees are a popular option and can be pruned to let through a lovely wash of light.
For most in the UK, a garden is used primarily in the warmer months and evergreen foliage is not essential. I love a live willow hedge as a beautiful natural screen. It's a structural way to break up a view whilst feeling light, airy, and organic: perfect for a cosy garden oasis.
A living willow fence/hedge (or "fedge") and arch break (rather than block) the view into a suburban front garden. Image credit: The Willow Bank
2. Bring planting into the garden
Attractive planting in the middle of the garden – rather than in borders around the edge – draws you visually into the space and not out to the boundary and surrounding buildings.
A perennial border of wafty grasses and tall flowering plants, like verbena bonariensis and Japanese anemone, can be as effective as trees at creating a feeling of enclosure, especially when planted close to garden seating. Flowers and foliage do not need to be very tall to become a translucent screen and shield a cosy seating area.
3. Carefully position cover overhead
Rather than worrying about overhead views throughout your whole garden, focus on the sightlines from surrounding upper windows and where you'd like your outdoor seating.
Pergolas are particularly effective at breaking the view onto an otherwise overlooked seating area – and they don't block much light.
Even a simple parasol can create enough overhead cover for a sense of privacy in a small outdoor dining or entertaining space.
Sara Jane Rothwell has created a green living roof with trained Sorbus Aria trees to offer gentle screening for the seating below. Image credit: Marianne Majerus and London Garden Designer
4. Embrace curves with paths and borders
A curved edge means you can't fully see what's beyond it. It offers an element of surprise and enhances a feeling of seclusion – rather than being able to see the whole garden in one.
Garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson advises against laying a "sea of paving". A series of zones and seating areas, linked by paths and surrounded with planting, lends itself to the cosy secret garden aesthetic. Plus it ensures that the journey through your garden is an interesting one!
A garden does not have to be large to create hidden spaces – simple curved gravel paths through lush or wafty planting is stunningly effective.
5. Move seating areas away from the house
When you move seating and entertaining areas away from your house and towards the boundaries of your garden you:
(a) change the sightlines from surrounding windows, often granting you greater privacy; and
(ii) turn the view from your seating area back through your garden to your home and away from the offending view.
For a flexible approach, consider portable outdoor seating like luxury garden bean bags. They are easily repositioned around your garden depending on light, privacy, or mood. Bean bags are also the best furniture to use on the lawn when you'd like to take advantage of that space too.
6. Snuggle seating down low
A sunken seating area is a valuable feature in a cosy garden. Lowering a terrace by just 46-51cm makes it much easier to achieve a sense of privacy with surrounding planting or screens.
However, with water table levels and drainage to consider, plus potentially expensive excavations, a sunken patio is not always an option. Instead, achieve the same effect with a clever choice of outdoor furniture.
Garden bean bags offer luxury seating that sits you a little lower and, with their body-moulding beans, hug and surround you. They create a feeling of cosy enclosure.
Place a bean bag chair close to lush planting (bonus points if it's scented) for a wonderfully cosy spot to retreat to with a cuppa.
7. Distract the eye with a focal feature
The goal is to draw you into your garden with attractive features so that your view is held inwards, rather than out at the surroundings beyond your garden boundary. This enhances the illusion of privacy.
A focal point might be a statue, a water feature, or a specimen tree: something to distract the eye from views you are trying not to notice! Placing your feature close to your seating area will keep attention within the garden and make for a greater sense of seclusion.
8. Be aware of light and sound
Draw on all the senses when creating a garden seating area to relax and unwind in.
Awareness of sound privacy is critical when designing an outdoor seating area that feels secluded. One of the best, and simplest, ways to achieve this is by adding a water feature to your garden. The sound of a fountain or water spout creates a gentle backdrop of sound that distracts from the noise of traffic or neighbours chatting.
Strategic outdoor lighting can help a garden feel more enclosed after dark and enhance a feeling of cosiness. Soft, warm-toned lights create a welcoming glow, whilst lanterns or fairy lights strung through trees or a pergola make the space feel cocooned and inviting.
Nestling an outdoor chair, like this garden bean bag, close to a water feature distracts attention from unwanted surrounding noise and creates a sitting area from which to enjoy the garden.
Whether you have an overlooked new build garden, your neighbours have cut down screening trees, or you would like ideas to create a cosy garden, I hope that these design tips have inspired and helped you.
I have more expert suggestions and advice if you'd like comfortable furniture for a small balcony, want a garden great for entertaining, or are looking for outdoor furniture for a small garden.
If you want to create your own private garden retreat, explore the Armadillo Sun range of garden bean bags. An outdoor bean bag delivers premium comfort – essential when you want to feel cosy – along with style and versatility. For our latest product offers, along with garden and patio inspiration, subscribe to the Armadillo Sun newsletter.