It was a chilly April morning in Glasgow when Jen Anderson stepped out into a front garden that once felt more like a parking lot than a welcome home. The ground was bare concrete slabs; the space, sealed away from nature. Today, though, it bursts with greenery: flowering plants, soft borders, buzzing bees.
“The front did have a bit of grass to start,” she says, “but the back was just paving slabs… I kept some [slabs] to form a path, but replaced the rest with plants.” This transformation, humble in scale yet profound in effect, reflects a growing trend across the UK: people reversing the tide of paving, rescuing biodiversity at their doorsteps, and changing how their neighbourhoods feel, look, and breathe.
The Rise Of The Greyfront
According to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), three times as many front gardens are paved over now compared with a decade ago. What was once soft turf, flower beds, or simple planting is being replaced with block paving, tarmac, and impermeable surfaces.
While the reasons often include parking needs, low maintenance, or aesthetic preferences, the costs — to wildlife, water systems, air quality, and mental well-being — are mounting.
Turning Back: Stories Of Revival
Positive News asked its readers: “Have you liberated your front garden from grey paving or block slabs?” The responses were heartening.
- Ellie Williams replaced a large block-paved area with wildflower mat turf. Her garden now only needs mowing once a year, and different flowers appear at different times.
- Jen Anderson, as mentioned, kept a small path but transformed the rest, using plants from old pots and cuttings from her mum’s garden, until bees and butterflies began visiting.
- Alexander James Phillips, in east London, spent 20 minutes pickaxing his driveway, laid compost, sowed seeds in May, and has seen a dramatic increase in pollinators.
- Others replaced tarmac with gravel, created hedges or borders, added pots, or grew vegetables in what was once a sunless, sterile forecourt. All on modest budgets.
Why It Matters: More Than Just A Pretty Garden
These small transformations are not only about beauty — they make a real difference.
Biodiversity Comeback
When you re-introduce plants, wildflowers, hedges, even a small border, insects, bees, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife begin to return. Letting grass grow longer in gardens has been shown to nearly double butterfly numbers, especially in rural or intensively farmed areas. In urban gardens, too, even modest changes yield benefits.
Flood Risk And Water Management
Impermeable surfaces prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground, forcing it to flow away as surface runoff. When gardens are covered with concrete or paving, the amount of runoff rises significantly, which can overload drainage systems and heighten the risk of local flooding. Research shows that replacing green spaces with hard surfaces can boost rainwater runoff by nearly half.
Cooling And Air Quality
Green spaces moderate temperature. Vegetation cools through shade and evaporation, while hard surfaces store heat. When greenery disappears, urban heat-island effects worsen. Clean air suffers, too — plants and soil capture particulates and pollutants.
Health, Wellbeing, And Community
People report greater satisfaction, pleasure, and calm in greener surroundings. There’s connection: people tend to stop and talk, enjoy the sight of flowers, see bees, feel less trapped by concrete. Mental health benefits follow. Plus, doing a garden transformation gives a sense of agency and pride.
How To Rewild Your Front Garden
From these stories and from RHS and environmental sources, several practical lessons emerge:
- Start Small: Replace a single slab, create one border, or allow a patch of grass or wildflowers to grow.
- Use Native And Insect-Friendly Plants: Choose species local to your region and that bloom at different times.
- Minimise Hard Surfaces: Use permeable paving, gravel, or resin-bonded surfaces, leaving gaps for planting pockets.
- Retain Trees And Hedges: They provide shade, shelter, privacy, and pollution filtering.
- Plan For Low Maintenance: Pick plants that can handle shallow soil and occasional footfall.
- Budget Wisely: Many gardeners reuse materials or propagate plants cheaply for big results.
The Bigger Picture: Policy, Norms, And Culture
While many homeowners are making these changes on their own, systemic factors matter.
Planning regulations influence what kind of surfaces homeowners can install. Cultural norms about “tidy” gardens, parking spaces, and what a front garden should look like can discourage people from planting. Campaigns like RHS’s Greening Grey Britain are helping shift mindsets by showing that re-greening is a public good as much as a private choice.
Hope, Not Doom
Even as statistics warn that the paving trend is spreading, these stories of reclamation show that the tide can turn. Wildlife returns astonishingly quickly, neighbours notice, and people feel connected to something larger. Rewilding a front garden becomes a small but powerful way to restore balance to urban life.
Conclusion
In the face of a trend that is greying over front gardens and turning landscapes sterile, people are planting a new hope. Their choices show us that rewilding is not the preserve of large reserves or distant wildlands — it’s possible right here, right now, in front of your door.
If enough people pull up slabs, plant a border, let grass grow, encouragement will ripple across streets, towns, and cities. These garden makeovers are more than pretty pictures; they are life-affirming, nature-healing, and deeply human.
Sources:
The Guardian
Positive News
