Around Talgarth, the walls tell you where you are. Cottages and farmhouses at the foot of the Black Mountains were built from local stone, and the garden walls, gateways and yard walls around them usually follow suit. New brickwork here has to sit comfortably beside that, and it has to cope with weather that comes straight off the hills: wind, driving rain and harder frosts than the towns further south see.
Tony and the team build and repair garden walls, gate piers, steps and raised beds for Talgarth homes and the country properties around it, working mainly in natural stone, with brick and rendered block where they suit the house better. Our brickwork and garden walls page covers the service in full, and the Talgarth landscaping page shows how it fits with the rest of a country garden. The visit and quote are free, so get in touch when you are ready.
The six kinds of walling we do everywhere, and how each tends to look on a rural plot under the Black Mountains.
Garden and boundary walls around Talgarth are mostly stone, so we build new ones to match the cottage or farmhouse beside them, with a coping or a traditional topping that keeps the rain out of the core.
Rural Talgarth gardens often sit on a gentle fall towards a lane or a field, and a stone-faced retaining wall is a natural way to create a level lawn or terrace without it looking out of place.
Stone steps suit a Talgarth cottage garden far better than bright new brick, and we lay them with a generous tread so they stay safe when wet leaves and moss arrive in autumn.
Raised beds in stone or brick are useful on country plots around Talgarth for growing vegetables at a height that saves the back, and they can edge a patio of natural stone paving for a Talgarth cottage.
Gate piers are where Talgarth properties most often need us, whether that is a pair of stone pillars at a drive, a wider gateway for vehicles or the end of a wall that marks the entrance to a yard.
Old stone walls around Talgarth were often laid in lime mortar, and repairing them in lime, reusing the original stone, keeps them sound and looking as they should.
The entrance is the first thing anyone sees of a country property, and it also takes the most punishment. Gate piers carry the weight and leverage of a heavy gate every time it swings, vehicles clip them, and water gets into the tops if the capping is poor. Many of the older piers we see around Talgarth have leaned because they were never given a footing deep enough for the gate they ended up carrying.
When we build a new pair, we size the footing for the gate, set the hinge side to take the load, and cap the piers so rain runs off instead of soaking in. For wider entrances used by cars, tractors or trailers, we check the turning space first so the piers are not in the way. Our local guide to stone walls and gateways for Talgarth properties looks at styles, and gates themselves are covered by fencing in Talgarth.
Talgarth sits high enough, and close enough to the hills, that frost is a real test for any wall. Water that gets into stone, brick or mortar expands when it freezes, and over a few winters that can push faces off and open up joints. The top of a wall and the courses near the ground take the worst of it.
So we choose materials rated for full exposure, use a coping that overhangs enough to drip clear of the face, and avoid laying mortar when a hard frost is forecast. On a site facing the prevailing wind, we also think about height, since a tall freestanding wall catches a lot of wind. The guide to gardens in the Black Mountains covers planning for the weather more widely, and choosing bricks and coping for a garden wall looks at materials.
Walls that suit a stone-built place and stand up to the hill weather.
We work mostly in natural stone around Talgarth, matching the colour and coursing of the walls already there.
Old walls are repaired in a mortar that suits them, not a hard cement that traps water and speeds up frost damage.
If a wall might need consent, or a tall retaining wall needs an engineer, we tell you early. See when a retaining wall needs engineering advice.
Tony and the team visit, look at the ground and access, and give you a clear quote at no charge.
Some properties around Talgarth fall inside the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park boundary, where planning is handled by the National Park Authority, not Powys council. Walls near a listed building, or new walls and entrances beside a road, can also need consent. We are landscapers, not planners, so check with the right authority before work starts on anything beyond a like-for-like repair.
Field walls and hedgebanks on farmland can have their own rules too, and if your wall borders a neighbour's land it is worth agreeing the line before we start. We are happy to help you put together the questions to ask, and we will not start a job until you are comfortable that it is clear.
Talgarth is a longer drive from our Pontypool base than the valley towns, so we plan rural jobs carefully: materials delivered in as few loads as possible, a clear place to store them and a working pattern that avoids wasted journeys. Country properties often have the space and the vehicle access that terraced streets lack, which makes bigger stone walls and gateways practical.
If the wall is part of a bigger change, such as a new terrace, a lawn or a kitchen garden, we plan the whole thing together so levels and materials match. See country garden design ideas for Talgarth homes for some starting points, and garden wall foundations for why we dig as deep as we do.
Real reviews from homeowners across Talgarth — rated 4.8 out of 5 on Google from 69 reviews and 10/10 on Checkatrade.
“Had my patio done by the company and could not be happier. Top quality work done and quickly too.”
“I was pleased to find Tony and his lads were absolutely great! Tony responded quickly & was very polite.”
“We were delighted with the work and materials, which were of very high quality. Tony and team helped us.”
Local and practical guides to help you plan the work.
One team for the whole garden, so a single visit can price everything you have in mind.
We cover Talgarth and the towns around it. Choose another area below.
T J Landscapes South Wales
24 Conway Road, Pontypool
Torfaen, NP4 6HL
We cover homes right across South Wales, from Cardiff and the coast up to the valleys and the Brecon Beacons.
Most of the walls we build are mortared, which suits garden walls, piers and retaining walls around houses. For a traditional dry stone field wall, tell us what you have in mind at the visit and we will be straight with you about whether it is a job for us.
Usually. We reuse the original stone where it is sound and source stone of a similar colour and size to top it up. Mortar colour and joint style make as much difference as the stone, so we match those too.
The height and length, the stone you choose, the footing depth, any drainage needed behind a retaining wall, the distance to deliver materials and whether an old wall has to come down first. The quote is free, so ask us round.
No. Talgarth is further from Pontypool than most of our towns, but we work there and plan the job around the travel so it runs smoothly.
Tell us about the wall, gateway or repair, roughly how big it is and where the property is, and we will arrange a free visit to Talgarth.
