Tiered porcelain terrace, Gloucester

Why terrace a sloping garden instead of levelling it?

Levelling means either a large retaining wall at one end or importing a lot of fill. Terracing keeps the earthworks shallow, gives flat usable areas at each level and spreads the retained height across several small walls instead of one tall one.

What order is a tiered terrace built in?

From the bottom up. Each retaining structure has to be built and backfilled before the level above it is laid, otherwise the upper bed is sitting on ground that is still going to move.

• Retaining structures built and backfilled first
• Levels paved from the lowest tier upwards
• Steps set out last to tie the tiers together

Where does water go on a terraced patio?

Each tier is given its own fall to its open edge, and the retained faces are backed with free-draining material so water is not trapped behind the walls.