A small family firm
on the tools since 1998
in Burford.
9.94 / 10
Checkatrade · 412 reviews
27 years
On the tools, family-run
£5m / £10m
Public & employer’s liability
48 hours
From survey to written quote
Honest work, fair price, done when we said it’d be done.
Tom started the firm in 1998 with one van, a mortgage, and a child on the way. The firm is bigger now — six on the tools, another two in the yard — but the rules haven’t moved: turn up when you said you’d turn up, do the job the way you said you’d do it, charge what you said you’d charge. The thing that ought to be unremarkable about a trade is the thing most of our customers thank us for.
We work mostly within thirty miles of Burford. We pick up about forty gardens a year — a mix of one-off builds (patios, fencing, decking, garden rooms) and the long-term maintenance rounds we run for forty-odd households across the four counties. We don’t subcontract the building work; the six lads who came in this morning are the six lads who’ll be at your place.
We’re fully insured, accredited by Checkatrade and Which? Trusted Trader, members of the APL, and certified by the BALI. Every quote is fixed in writing after a free survey, and we don’t take deposits before we’ve agreed it.
“Turn up when you said you’d turn up. Do the job the way you said you’d do it. Charge what you said you’d charge.”
Two brothers, one dad, one very patient head gardener.
Founder
Tom Hartley
Started the firm out of one van in 1998. Still does most of the surveys and quotes — if you ring the yard, it’s usually Tom who answers.
Director · planting
Lewis Hartley
Tom’s eldest. Trained at Pershore College, runs the planting side and most of the back-of-house. Twelve years on the tools.
Foreman · garden rooms
Joe Hartley
Tom’s younger. Time-served carpenter, foreman on every garden room build the firm puts up. Quiet, neat, fast.
Head gardener · maintenance
Anya Lawrence
Runs the maintenance rounds across four counties. Twelve years with the firm. The face most of our long-standing clients see every fortnight.
The paperwork we’re proud of.
Every certificate below is current and verifiable. Happy to email copies of the insurance schedules and the latest APL audit on request.
- 2016Which? Trusted Trader — accredited; one of the first landscape firms in Oxfordshire
- 2018Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) — full member, fences and hard landscaping
- 2019Checkatrade — ‘Top 100 Tradespeople in the South-West’
- 2021Cotswold Life — ‘Best Local Trade 2021’ in the readers’ choice
- 2022Checkatrade — 9.94 / 10 average score, sustained for three years
- 2023BALI National Landscape Award — Highly Commended, ‘Walled Garden, Burford’
- 2024£5m public liability & £10m employer’s liability with Hiscox — renewed annually
412 Checkatrade reviews, 9.94 / 10.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Three quotes, three turns up at different times. Tom from Hartley’s was the only one who actually rang first, and the only one who sent a written quote inside the week. Two years on, the patio still looks brand new.
Hannah G., Witney
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Lewis comes once a fortnight to keep the garden in order. Same face every time. He’s found time for a cup of tea with my mum every visit for five years.
Caroline D., Stow-on-the-Wold
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Booked them through the website estimator — figure on the site was £8,400-£11,200, final quote after survey came in at £9,650. Done in five weeks as promised, no surprises.
Sam & Rachel B., Cirencester