Homeowners with the UK’s biggest gardens spend 315 hours a year maintaining them, according to new research by Quickmove Properties. We find out how downsizing to a park home could help…

The latest research by Quickmove Properties has revealed that while the average homeowner will spend 114 hours per year maintaining their garden, this climbs as high as 315 hours in locations with the largest gardens in the land.

It’s estimated that the average homeowner spends 113.5 hours per year maintaining their garden and, with the average garden across England coming in at 255 square metres, this equates to 27 minutes per square metre.

Green-fingered
Of course, depending on where you live, the time spent pursuing green-fingered endeavours within the garden is likely to differ drastically.
In Wealden, East Sussex, the average size of a garden is a whopping 700 square metres meaning that the average homeowner spends a huge 315 hours per year maintaining their own slice of green space.

In Mid Suffolk, it takes the average homeowner 311 hours per year to maintain the average garden size of 692 square metres, while those in Waverley (294 hours), Tandridge (228 hours) and Uttlesford (279 hours) also spend some of the longest time tending to their gardens.
A garden is a valuable part of any property, providing opportunity not just for green-fingered enthusiasts to show their skills, but also to entertain guests or simply enjoy the British summer.

Gardener of the Year
Of course, you don’t need acres of land to achieve an impressive garden space. Quickmove Properties’ Park Home Gardener of the Year competition proved this last year, and it’s back once again to find the gardeners who make the most of their park home space – however compact in size.

Co-sponsored by Towergate Insurance, Park Home Gardener of the Year 2024 is open to any residential park residents.
An independent judging panel from the park home industry will then select who wins each prize.

The categories include Best Ornamental Display, Best Border Display, Best Decking or Patio, and Best Basket and Tub Display. The winner of Park Home Gardener of the Year 2024 will be selected from all entries.

New for 2024!
Also new for 2024 is the Park in Bloom award recognising the best-presented communal park area, with a £200 voucher prize for the winning park community to put towards a park tea party!

Embrace National Gardening Week by sharing your gardening achievements, whether it is a colourful flower display, blossoming borders or a well decorated lawn.

Mark O’Dwyer, sales director at Quickmove Properties commented: ‘With every park home having three metres of surrounding land as a minimum, every park home resident will always get a garden space and the chance to be creative.

‘Last year’s competition showed that park residents can get very creative with their outdoor space, making room for luscious flower beds, patios, decking, hanging baskets, pots, tubs and even hot tubs!

‘The space to provide generous gardens in towns and cities is becoming less and less, especially for people looking to retire, where often it’s only flats that are available.

‘With the modern residential park home option, silver downsizers can enjoy their compact outside space to grow plants and flowers, harvest patio tomatoes, and have friends over for a drink or barbecue, when the weather allows!
‘This is where the joy of gardens comes from, and you don’t need enormous amounts of land for it, as our competition entrants perfectly demonstrate.’