What we do
Landscaping, grounds maintenance and the specialist work in between.
Fifteen services across three strands, all carried by the same small team out of Bishop's Stortford. Private gardens across east Herts and north-west Essex, and grounds contracts for schools and colleges, private estates and business premises in Essex, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
Landscaping
Complete landscape service from design to completion — and the individual jobs that make it up, if that is all you need.
01Landscaping
Complete garden creation, design to completion
This is the service the company was built on. We come out and talk through what you want, put the ideas into a plan, quote for it, and then carry the whole thing from first dig to last plant — levels and groundwork, hard landscaping, structure, turf and planting. Because one team sees it through, the garden you agreed is the garden you get, and there's one person to ask when you have a question. We work in all weathers as far as possible and keep disruption and mess to a minimum while we're with you.
02Landscaping
Patios & natural stone paving
A patio is the part of the garden you stand on every day, so it has to be right underneath as well as on top. We take up and dispose of whatever is there, prepare and consolidate the base, and lay to falls so water runs away from the house rather than back towards it. We've done everything from a small rear-garden patio on a set budget in Bishop's Stortford to 300 square metres of natural stone around a new swimming pool at Manuden — same preparation, different scale.
03Landscaping
Block paved driveways & specialist surfacing
Driveways take more punishment than anything else in a garden, and they show poor groundwork first. We build them on a properly dug and consolidated base, with edge restraints that hold the blocks tight and drainage worked out before a single block is laid. Where a drive or path calls for something other than blocks — a bound or specialist surface, or a hard-wearing finish for a commercial site — we can lay that too, and we'll tell you honestly which one suits the ground you've got.
04Landscaping
Turfing & grass seeding
A lawn is only ever as good as the ground under it. We strip, level and prepare the soil, sort out drainage and compaction where they're a problem, then either lay fresh turf for an instant finish or seed it where the season and the site suit that better. We'll tell you which makes more sense for your garden and the time of year, and explain the watering and first cuts so the new grass knits in instead of drying out.
05Landscaping
Decking
Decking earns its place where levels change, where a lawn would never thrive, or where you simply want somewhere to sit that catches the evening sun. We build on a properly supported frame so there's no bounce or movement, set the boards with consistent gaps for drainage, and finish the edges and steps neatly. We also maintain decking we didn't build — cleaning, treating and replacing tired boards before the whole thing has to come up.
06Landscaping
Fencing, walling & soil retainment
Fencing is the quickest way to change how a garden feels, and the easiest to get wrong — posts set shallow, panels following a slope instead of stepping it. We set posts properly and step the runs so the line reads level. Where the ground itself needs holding we build retaining structures, whether that's a low brick wall edging a new border or a garden wall extended to carry a change of level, as we did on the swimming pool project at Manuden.
07Landscaping
Shrub, hedge & tree planting
Planting is the part that turns a construction site back into a garden. We plant up beds and borders, put in new hedging where you want screening or structure, and plant trees with the staking and preparation they need to get away in their first couple of seasons. On a complete garden we do this as the last stage of the build, so the planting sits into a finished scheme rather than being worked around.
08Landscaping
Ponds & water features
Water changes a garden more than almost anything else you can add to it. We build ponds and water features into new schemes and into existing gardens — on a small rear-garden job in Bishop's Stortford we worked a pond into the corner of a new patio, with a timber edge and planting around it. We'll talk through depth, edging, safety and how much maintenance you're realistically prepared to take on before we start.
09Landscaping
Wildlife areas & conservation maintenance
Not every part of a garden or a school site needs to be mown to a stripe. We create wildlife areas — native planting, rough grass, log and habitat piles — and then maintain them on the cycle they actually need rather than the one that suits the mower. On larger sites this sits alongside conservation and ditch maintenance as part of the wider grounds round.
Grounds maintenance
Booked rounds for domestic gardens, schools and colleges, private estates and business premises, with the right machine for the ground.
10Grounds maintenance
Grass cutting & lawn care
We cut grass across everything from a domestic lawn to a school playing field, and we choose the machine to suit: gang and triple mowers for big open areas, rotary for general grass and awkward corners, flail where the grass is long, rough or hasn't been touched for a while. Regular cutting is booked as a round so you know roughly when we'll be there, and we can pick up a garden we've just built so it never has a gap in its care.
11Grounds maintenance
Hedge trimming, shrub beds & ornamental areas
Hedges and shrub beds are what make a maintained site look maintained. We trim hedges with hand-held trimmers where the finish matters and by flail where the run is long and agricultural, and we keep shrub beds and ornamental areas weeded, mulched and pruned on a seasonal cycle. On commercial grounds this is usually the work that visitors notice first, so it's the work we programme most carefully.
12Grounds maintenance
Leaf clearance, weed control & site tidying
The unglamorous work that keeps a site safe and presentable. We clear leaves before they mat down and make paths slippery, control weeds in beds, on gravel and along hard surfaces, and collect and dispose of litter on larger grounds. Waste we take off site goes on to be recycled wherever it can be — some litter inevitably can't be, and we'll be straight with you about that rather than claim otherwise.
Specialist services
The unusual work most landscapers pass on — all of it overseen by proprietor Paul Robson personally.
13Specialist services
Sports surfaces, markings & jump pits
This is the work that sets us apart from a general gardening firm. We mark out sports pitches and hard surfaces, build and maintain athletics run-ups and jump pits, and lay and repair safety surfacing. Schools and colleges across Essex and Cambridgeshire are a big part of what we do, and the summer holidays are usually when this work gets programmed — so it's worth talking to us well before the end of the academic year.
14Specialist services
Pitch & lawn restoration, verti-draining, top dressing
Tired grass is usually a soil problem, not a grass problem. We verti-drain to relieve compaction and get air and water down to the roots, top dress to improve the surface, fertilise grasses and soils to the right specification, and overseed where the sward has thinned out. It's the standard route back for a worn school pitch, a much-used domestic lawn or a tennis court surround — and it's far cheaper than starting again.
15Specialist services
Drainage, tree work & specialist ground works
The jobs that need working out before they need doing. We carry out drainage works where ground is holding water, prune and remove trees, take out stumps, and restore tennis courts and other worn hard areas. All specialist work of this kind is overseen by proprietor Paul Robson personally, and we're happy to come and give advice on a problem you're weighing up even if it doesn't turn into a job.
Materials we work in
The surface is the cheap half. The base is the job.
Whatever we lay on top, the preparation underneath is the same — dug to depth, consolidated, falls worked out, edges restrained. Here is what we tend to build in, and when each one earns its place.
Block paving
Driveways and paths in concrete or clay blocks, laid on a dug and consolidated base with proper edge restraints so the blocks stay tight and the surface stays where you put it.
Natural stone
Riven and sawn stone for terraces, steps and copings. Warm underfoot and it improves with age — we laid 300 square metres of it around a pool at Manuden.
Budget slabs
There is no shame in a paving slab. On a set budget we will lay slabs properly rather than lay stone badly — the preparation underneath is identical either way.
Timber
Decking, raised beds, sleeper edges, close-board and panel fencing. Set on proper supports and posts dug to depth, then maintained afterwards if you would like us back for it.
Specialist surfacing
Bound and specialist surfaces for drives and paths, plus safety surfacing for play and athletics areas where a hard surface would be the wrong answer.
Soil, turf and seed
Topsoil brought to level, turf laid onto prepared ground, or seed sown when the season suits it better. Plus top dressing and fertiliser specified to the sward you have got.
How we work
Look, quote, build — then keep it right.
01
We come and look
Call or email and we'll arrange to come out and walk the ground with you. For a garden that means levels, drainage, access and how you actually want to use the space; for a commercial site it means measuring the areas, agreeing the standard you need and working out a sensible visit frequency. No charge, and no pressure.
02
A plan and a written quote
We put the ideas into a plan and quote for it properly, so you can see what's included before anyone starts. On landscaping projects we'll talk through materials and the sequence of works; on grounds maintenance we set out what's covered on each visit and what sits outside the schedule. When pricing we make every effort to work to your budget.
03
The work, then the aftercare
We work in all weathers as far as possible, keep disruption and mess to a minimum and clear as we go — and every bit of waste we take off site goes on to be recycled rather than to landfill. When the build is finished we can pick the garden up on a maintenance round so it keeps looking the way it did on handover.
Before you call
Questions we're asked most.
Do you charge to come out and quote?
No. We'll look at the garden or the site, talk through what you're after and put a written quote to it, with no charge and no obligation either way.
Who will I actually be dealing with?
Paul Robson, the proprietor. It's a small family-run business — Paul quotes the work and personally oversees all specialist works, and you see the same faces on site.
Do you work for schools and businesses as well as private clients?
Yes. Our grounds maintenance clients have ranged from schools and colleges in Essex and Cambridgeshire to private estates and business premises, alongside domestic gardens.
Will my patio or drive still be level in five years?
That is decided under the surface. We dig out to depth, consolidate the base, get the falls right and restrain the edges — the part you never see is the part that stops the surface moving.
What happens to the waste?
All waste we take off site goes on to be recycled, so nothing we remove ends up illegally disposed of or in landfill. Litter collection is the one honest exception.
How long have you been registered?
Ace of Spades Landscapes Ltd has been on the Companies House register since 27 February 2013, company number 08422779, and is currently active.
Not sure which of those you need?
That is what the visit is for. We'll come and look, tell you what the ground actually needs, and put a written quote to it — free, and with no obligation.