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A raised terrace of cream porcelain with a Cotswold stone wall and wide steps, a striped lawn in front and a three-gabled stone house behind

Bourton-on-the-Water. Raised terrace, stone walls and 500 m² of new lawn.

See what’s under it ↓

Groundwork · Landscaping · Garden structures

Most of what we build is buried.

Foundations, drains and sub-bases decide how long a garden lasts. We do that groundwork ourselves, then finish it in stone, turf and timber across Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds.

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What is underneath

What holds a terrace up.

The terrace at the top of this page is mostly groundwork. This is the order we build one in, with a photograph from one of our own jobs for each stage.

  1. 1Set out and strip

    We mark the lines and levels before anything is dug. The old topsoil comes off, back to the ground that will carry the load.

    A mini digger beside blue set-out lines and pegs on a back lawn, with a wheelbarrow in the foreground
    Witney, May 2026. Set-out lines in blue before the first dig.

  2. 2Footings

    Concrete footings go in under every wall before any stone is laid.

    A curved trench filled with fresh concrete, cut into red-brown ground under trees
    Oxfordshire, December 2025. A footing poured for a curved retaining wall.

  3. 3Wall and land drain

    The wall is built up from the footing. A perforated land drain runs behind it in gravel, wrapped in membrane, so water has somewhere to go that isn’t through the wall.

    A curved retaining wall with gravel wrapped in white membrane laid behind it
    Oxfordshire, December 2025. Gravel and membrane behind a retaining wall.

  4. 4Fill, compact, sub-base

    Raised ground is built up in compacted layers, then topped with MOT Type 1 sub-base, set to falls so water runs away from the house.

    A plate compactor and a roll of membrane on a prepared sub-base beside a house, with an orange digger at the left
    Bampton, April 2026. A plate compactor and membrane before the shingle.

  5. 5Bed, lay and point

    Slabs go down on a screeded bed and are pointed for a clean, durable finish. Copings go on the walls last.

    Large pale slabs being laid beside a step, a blue spirit level lying across them
    Oxfordshire, February 2024. Large slabs going down, checked with a level.

  6. 6Topsoil and turf

    The lawn comes last: prepared, topsoiled and turfed once the heavy work is done.

    Fresh green turf laid in curving strips across a cleared garden
    Witney, July 2025. New turf across a cleared garden.
Section A–A through a raised terrace A typical build-up, not to scale, built up in order: the garden is set out and stripped; footings are poured; the stone wall goes up with a land drain behind it; the made ground is filled, compacted and topped with sub-base; the slabs are bedded and pointed and the walls are coped; topsoil and turf finish the lawn. Almost all of it sits below the surface you see. DPC House Section A–ATypical build-up. Not to scale. The garden as it was Pegs and string line Formation level 1 Concrete footing 2 Soakaway Land drain in gravel Cotswold stone wall 3 MOT Type 1 sub-base Compacted hardcore 4 Bullnose coping Slab on screeded bed 5 TopsoilTurf 6 Terrace level Lawn level What you see What holds it up

Section A–A. A typical build-up for a raised terrace, drawn from the layers we build. Not to scale.

That is most of the work, and almost none of it shows.
Ask us to look at your garden →

What we do

From timber above the ground to water below it.

Our work, listed by where it sits. Levels are indicative, in metres from ground level.

  1. +2.4m

    Timber structures

    Pergolas, garden rooms, covered seating, storage, decking and planters, designed and built around the house and the garden.

    A timber pergola over a grey patio behind a stone house, with planting in the foreground
    Ascott-under-Wychwood. A timber pergola over a patio, September 2026.

  2. +1.0m

    Boundaries and walls

    Close-board, Venetian and picket fencing, and gates. Stone walls, steps and copings. Sleeper beds and retaining walls.

    A horizontal Venetian fence beside a white shingle drive and a stone house
    Witney. Venetian fencing and a shingle drive, July 2025.

  3. ±0.0mGround level

    Surfaces

    Porcelain and natural stone patios, paths and steps. Shingle, block and cobble drives. Turf and artificial grass. Garden design and planting schemes.

    A curved patio set against a dry-stone wall and a stone cottage
    Milton-under-Wychwood. A curved patio against a dry-stone wall, July 2025.

  4. −0.5m

    Just below

    Sub-bases, edgings and footings. Land drains and soakaways around walls and buildings.

    An orange drain pipe running along a trench packed with gravel, a flagstone laid across it
    Drainage in a gravel trench, February 2026.

  5. −1.0m

    Foundations and slabs

    Foundations, block and beam, raft and reinforced concrete slabs, foul and storm drainage, attenuation, kerbing and car parks, for extensions and new builds.

    Brick foundation walls for an extension with clay drain pipes beside a fence
    New Yatt. Extension foundations and drainage, March 2026.

  6. −2.4m

    Lakes and ponds

    Excavation, clay lining, headwalls and sluices, retaining walls, paths and bridges, for estates and private ponds.

    A round ornamental pond on a green lawn, with two weeping willows behind
    Dean, Oxfordshire. An ornamental pond, revisited June 2026.

Recent work

Gardens, walls and extensions, start to finish.

Every photograph here is from KGL’s own jobs. We name the village, never the street.

Wide porcelain steps rising to a terrace edged with a stone wall and bullnose copings, lawn in the foreground
The cleared site before work, with a large conifer and the glazed side of the house
Bare ground
A digger working on the levelled garden
Digging out
The finished terrace with its stone border wall and striped lawn
Finished

Gloucestershire · November 2025

Bourton-on-the-Water

Raised terrace and 500 m² lawn

  • Porcelain terrace
  • Stone border walls with bullnose copings
  • Matching feature staircase
  • Full ground preparation and new turf

Oxfordshire · July 2025

Milton-under-Wychwood

Dry-stone walls and Old Cotswold paving

  • Land drains to every external wall, in solid perforated pipe
  • Polystorm soakaways
  • Foundations poured for tiered dry-stone walls, installed by a specialist stone firm
  • Old Cotswold paving
Wet stone paving running alongside a tiered dry-stone wall with fresh soil behind it
A curved patio in a corner formed by a stone cottage and a dry-stone wall

Oxfordshire · May 2026

Witney

Rear extension and patio retaining wall

A job over a year in the making, for old neighbours and good friends. More than 75 tonnes of material were excavated and removed over the works.

A back lawn with blue set-out lines marked on the grass
Set out
A mini digger in freshly dug footings behind a stone house
Dug
Concrete beams with blocks laid between them, edged with red brick
Beam and block
The extension floor laid, with a clay drain pipe beside the brick edge
Floor laid
Compacted red hardcore and white membrane where the patio will go
Patio sub-base

Oxfordshire

Ascott-under-Wychwood

Two jobs in one village

  • 55 m² porcelain patio
  • Bespoke timber pergola with heavy-duty posts and beams
  • Posts set on traditional saddle stones, clear of the paving
Large-format pale grey porcelain slabs in a walled garden
Porcelain patio, November 2025
A timber pergola with braced posts over a patio behind a Cotswold stone house
Timber pergola, September 2026
A terraced house front garden dug out to bare soil, with a digger bucket and a roll of membrane
Dug out
The same front garden finished as a shingle drive with a paved path down the middle
Finished

Oxfordshire · April 2026

Bampton

Driveway facelift

A tired front garden, prepared and groundworked through to a clean, low-maintenance finished surface.

Estate water

When a lake won’t hold water.

Estate lakes fail from the bottom up: a worn liner, a failed sluice. We re-line them with clay, rebuild the outlets, and have built a new ornamental pond, all in Oxfordshire.

Estate lake · phase 1 · December 2024

Silt out, clay in, new sluice

  • Silt removed from the worn liner on the banks
  • Over 240 tonnes of blue clay imported and compacted in 100 mm layers
  • Failed sluice gate and brick pier taken out of the lake
  • Reinforced concrete headwall with a modern sluice gate, disguised with Cotswold stone to suit the estate
The refilled lake in grey winter light, a country house far across the water
Refilled
The drained lake bed with the old sluice standing in the mud and a blue pump hose
Drained, with the old sluice
A new stone-faced headwall with the outlet pipe set into it
The new headwall
A still estate lake reflecting autumn trees under a clear blue sky

Estate lake · revisited September 2025

“Many contractors have been hesitant to take on the challenge, but we achieved the task.”
Charlie King, on removing the man-made island
  • Over 300 tonnes of clay to line one whole bank
  • Graded for a more natural look
  • An island the client had wanted gone for years

Dean, Oxfordshire · revisited June 2026

A new ornamental pond

  • Tiered excavation to 2.4 m
  • Reinforced concrete retaining wall
  • Land drainage
  • A path with steps, and a feature bridge
  • Landscaping to tie it all in
The pond excavated as a round bowl, tractor tracks circling its sides
Excavation
A land drain with a black pipe and white membrane running along a stone wall
Land drain
A cream-coped retaining wall and a pea shingle path beside a stone barn
Wall and path
The finished round pond on a bright lawn with two weeping willows behind
Finished

For builders and developers

Groundworks, from the first dig to the slab.

We take extensions and new builds from the first dig through foundations, drainage and floor slabs. We also do the car park and kerbs outside.

  • Foundations, block and beam
  • Raft and reinforced concrete slabs
  • Foul and storm drainage, soakaways and attenuation
  • Kerbing, services and car parks

Recent: Eynsham, New Yatt, Woodstock, Aston, Chipping Norton, Wallingford.

Call 07841 598648Email the drawings →

Old paving being broken out, with blue set-out lines and mini diggers behind
Breaking out
A tracked mini digger digging foundations beside a rear extension
Digging foundations
Bricklayers building blockwork foundation walls in the trench
Foundation blockwork
A beam and block floor finished and ready for the next trade
Beam and block floor
A large gravel overflow car park with kerbed edges under a pale sky
Wallingford. An 800 m² overflow car park, March 2026.

“King Groundwork and Landscaping are a trusted company we bring in on projects to assist with workflow. They provide reliable, high-quality groundwork and landscaping services, working efficiently and professionally alongside our team.”

Sterling Renovations Ltd. Instagram, April 2026

“Charlie and his colleague are the most conscientious contractors we have used. We are so pleased with the work they have done and would highly recommend them to anyone.”

Carla T. Facebook, March 2025

Who we are

KGL is Charlie King’s company.

We are a small, dedicated team working across Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds, with a trusted network of trades alongside us. We take on gardens, drives and timber structures for homeowners and estates, and groundworks for builders.

We have over ten years’ experience in groundwork and landscaping projects. We quote free and with no obligation, and we start every job below the surface.

An orange tracked excavator on a driveway in front of terraced houses
Bampton, April 2026
Based
Oxfordshire
Works across
Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and surrounding areas
Quotations
Free, with no obligation

Contact

Tell us what you’re planning.

Call, or send a few lines. We quote free and with no obligation.

07841 598648 cking.kgl@gmail.com

Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and surrounding areas. Homeowners, estates and builders are all welcome.

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Places we have worked

Witney/ Carterton/ Eynsham/ Bampton/ Faringdon/ Bourton-on-the-Water/ Ascott-under-Wychwood/ Milton-under-Wychwood/ Chipping Norton/ Enstone/ Finstock/ Woodstock/ New Yatt/ Ramsden/ Aston/ Dean/ Wallingford