Updated on April 1st, 2026 Posted In: Garden Trends & Design
Author: Alexandra Campbell

Accessible garden design – Mark Lane on gardens everyone can enjoy

Accessible garden design isn’t just for wheelchair users.

It’s for anyone who’s ever worried about slipping on wet paving. Anyone pushing a buggy or a wheelbarrow, using a walking frame or any other mobility devices. Or anyone whose balance or sight isn’t quite what it was.

And, as Mark Lane points out, the design of your garden is also about the future. Because none of us know how our needs might change.

Mark is the UK’s first garden designer in a wheelchair and a presenter on BBC Gardeners’ World. When he showed me around the garden he shared with his partner Jason in Kent, he explained how accessible design is really about making a garden safe, usable and enjoyable for as many people as possible, for as long as possible.

Hospital gardens need to work for people with different disabilities. Left: Shady accessible seating for the Chelsea Pensioners. Above and right: Horatio’s Garden in Salisbury, designed by Cleve West for patients with spinal injuries. Note that tables are easily accessed by wheelchairs and there’s a choice of high and lower seating for different needs. Best of all, it’s beautiful.

People are increasingly realising the importance of adaptive garden design, as it is also called. The first ‘adaptive garden’ at RHS Chelsea won Best in Show in 2023, designed by Bugg Harris for Horatio’s Garden. Now many show gardens are designed for a specific disability, such as visual impairments or mobility issues.

Start accessible garden design by asking how long you’ll have your garden

Most of Mark’s clients don’t specifically ask for an “accessible garden”.

But he always asks one key question: how long do you plan to live here?

‘None of us know what’s round the corner,’ he says. So it’s worth future-proofing your garden with good design, even in small ways. Safety is also worth thinking about if you like to show people round your garden.

So if you’re doing a re-design, think beyond the next year or so.

In five years’ time, will your needs be different? What about thirty years’ time? Of course, you can make changes further down the line, but it’s cheaper and better – in the long run – to get it right first time.

There is legislation covering accessibility in new homes, but it doesn’t extend to gardens. So if you’re redesigning your space, it makes sense to think ahead. Your needs in five, ten or thirty years’ time may be very different.

The key areas for accessible garden design

Mark focuses on five main elements. Each is important in its own right if you want a beautiful garden. And, depending on your disability, each has a different impact on how accessible your garden is:

• paths
• edging
• seating
• lighting
• planting

And these aren’t niche concerns—getting these right improve almost every garden.

Accessible garden paths: practical, wide and firm

Accessible garden paths need to be firm, wide and fairly level (legally, no slope should have a gradient of more than 1:12 without handrails but even that can be too steep).

Firm means using non-slip materials that won’t shift. I was surprised to discover that included gravel. In Mark’s garden, there is a wide gravel path running throughout.

Gravel, he says, can be a cost-effective option—especially if you want paths everywhere. And if it’s laid properly, it works well for wheels of all kinds, from wheelchairs to wheelbarrows.

The structure matters:

• a compacted sub-base (MOT type 1)
• a firmed layer of gravel
• a loose top layer

‘Then It’s only the top few inches that move,’ he explains.

Paths should be wide enough for two people to walk side by side. That also accommodates wheelchairs, buggies and anyone needing support. That is at least 1.2m wide and you also need somewhere to turn a wheelchair, probably around 2.4m wide.

Accessible garden paths need to be wide enough for a wheelchair and firm enough so that you don’t slip. Make sure you eliminate trip hazards, such as wonky pavers. See more of the Horatio’s Garden (top photo) in this interview with James Alexander Sinclair and Joe Swift.

This is a properly bonded gravel path. Only a few loose stones on the top will move and it gives a firm base for a wheelchair or other mobility aids. It’s also cheaper than a stone path.

You need what’s called a secure MOT type 1 base. This is a sub-base made of crushed recycled concrete, consisting of lots of different-sized chunks. It is compacted down to make it very secure (it’s used as a base for roads, too).

Then Mark had a layer of gravel added and pounded down, so that it, too, was very secure. This was followed by a top layer of gravel (‘so it’s only top few inches that move’, he says).

‘The National Trust uses a self-bonding gravel, for example,’ he says, ‘because it’s easy to lay and repair.’

See more about garden paths in Garden Paths, The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful.

Slopes, surfaces and trip hazards

Under a pergola, Mark’s gravel path slopes gently—but it’s stabilised with a hidden grid to stop movement. If you have a wheeled mobility aid, you’ll need to make sure that any slope is very gentle indeed.

Other options include poured rubber or tarmac. Paving can also work, but over time it may become uneven, creating a trip hazard.

There are other factors to consider such as the height of gates, door knobs, the positioning of doors etc. The gardening disability charity Thrive has a good list of recommendations for wheelchair friendly garden design, include details on UK legislation.

Sturdy handrails are a good idea around steps or slopes.

For more tips on sloping gardens, see The Truth About Gardening on a Slope.

Edging: the detail that makes a difference

Edging is essential in an accessible garden.

It helps define where the path ends and the border begins—important for wheelchair users, people with visual impairments, or anyone using a stick or frame.

Mark uses raised timber edging with a slight overhang. This allows his wheelchair to detect the boundary—and it also conceals a run of LED lighting.

He also uses privet hedging at around hand height to stop plants flopping into paths, while keeping it easy to maintain.

The gravel path that goes all round Mark’s garden has paths leading off it so that Mark can access benches, statues and all borders. He has bordered his paths with wood edging, which can be sensed by his wheelchair and this also conceals useful path lighting.

The gravel path with its timber lip concealing a long run of LED lighting. Here seen leading to the ‘white border.’

Mark Lane can clip his own hedges from his wheelchair. And they prevent plants from flopping over on the path and getting caught in the wheels.

Accessible garden seating

Seating is one of Mark’s bugbears. ‘Everyone is a different height, so why don’t we have different heights of seating in a garden?’ he asks.

It’s also worth noting that people have different abilities to get in and out of seating.

He suggests varying the heights of your seats, benches or perches around the garden, so that they are equally comfortable for children and very tall or small people.

In fact, this is something we do without thinking inside our homes. As an exercise, I’ve just checked the heights of the chairs and sofa in my sitting room. There are five different heights. Although they don’t vary hugely, one chair is much more comfortable for tall people. Another is my favourite (I’m the shortest in my immediate family).

Chairs (at two different seat heights) around a table that Mark can get his wheelchair under.

He also suggests having some garden benches with arm rests and others without, because if you want to transfer from a wheelchair to a bench, an armrest can get in the way.

And tables need to be a specific height for wheelchair users – you can’t get a wheelchair properly under some tables, even tables in restaurants.

The right garden seating makes a huge difference to how much you enjoy your garden.

See 10 Beautiful and Practical Ideas for Outdoor Seating

And How to Choose The Best Garden Furniture for Your Garden.

Lighting: think like you do indoors

Lighting isn’t just decorative—it’s about safety.

Mark suggests treating garden lighting as you would indoor lighting:

• task lighting (bins, paths, practical areas)
• accent lighting (trees, sculpture)
• ambient lighting (seating areas)

Coloured lights should be used carefully. As Mark says, they can make paths harder to read and navigate.

You’ll need big spotlights where you need to do practical things like take out bins or clear away tables, accent lights to outline a tree and atmospheric lighting at the table.

But think about the height of a wheelchair – a row of bollard lights, for example, is at absolutely the wrong height. It will dazzle a wheelchair user.

You can just see the accent lights highlighting this sculpture.

Should you choose easy-care planting?

Mark believes its important to get the structure of a garden right first, and then to consider the planting.

Like most garden experts, he just doesn’t really believe in what is called ‘low maintenance gardening’.

But he does point out that grasses and perennials are relatively easy care: ‘you chop them down once a year, and they pop up again the next’.

Forsythia in its autumn glory, hydrangea ‘Vanilla Fraise’ and the tree lupin or Lupinus Arboreus. Shrubs and perennials are easier to care for than annuals.

He also says it’s important to think about where branches and plants overhang – something that you might brush your hip against could hit a wheelchair user in the face.

Trees are also easy to look after, but don’t let branches overhang at the wrong height. Gleditsia shedding the last of its autumn leaves.

It’s also worth thinking about how you’re going to maintain the garden. For example, put a garden tap or taps in a convenient place and use an expandable and/or lightweight hose – or a retractable hose fixed to the wall.

In terms of tools, many companies do ergonomic tools that are easier to use. From long-reach tools with easy-grip handles to lightweight telescopic loppers and tools for those with a weak grip, there’s something for a range of disabilities. You may have to experiment to find the right tools for you.

There are good planting tips and ideas in these posts:

How to Create Stunning Garden Borders

What You Need to Know to Create an Outstanding Perennial Border

Perennials Made Simple – How to Choose and Plant The Best Plants for Your Garden.

More of Mark’s garden on video

See more of Mark’s garden here on this video:

Be realistic

In the end, Mark says that there’s no such thing as a ‘fully accessible’ garden. People’s needs are so different. But he advises thinking in a logical way about the needs of the person or the group of people who are going to use the garden. Specific charities, such as Age UK can often advise on ergonomic tools and equipment.

There are more posts about garden design here: see Adam Frost’s garden design tips or discover the essentials of garden design from the professionals at KLC.

Find Mark Lane Designs here or catch up with BBC Gardeners World here. Mark is also involved with a number of charities, including the Gardening with Disabilities Trust.

And don’t just tick boxes. Mark says that designers may make an entrance wide enough for a wheelchair, but still have a small lip on the ground which stops the wheelchair in its tracks. And I don’t suppose that lip is much fun for those who have to trolley a wheelbarrow full of compost over it…

Pin to remember accessible garden design advice

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