A selection of recent installations across Eastbourne and the surrounding five miles — from clifftop gardens in Meads to marina terraces at Sovereign Harbour and downland cottages in East Dean.
The brief: A long gravel approach that vanished after sunset — the owners wanted arrival to feel considered, not floodlit.
The work: Twelve 12V spike-mounted uplights buried at the base of the flanking pear trees, warm 2700K, narrow beam to keep spill off the drive itself.
The result: A soft avenue of light that draws you to the house without a single visible fitting from the car.
The brief: A steep brick stairway through a sloping back garden — safe to use in the dark, without looking like a fire escape.
The work: Recessed brick-face LED markers on alternate risers, plus low-level spike lights washing the retaining wall planting on both sides.
The result: Every tread is legible from the top of the steps, and the wider garden reads as one lit landscape rather than a lit path.
The brief: A natural pond and a carved timber heron the owners wanted to be able to see from the kitchen after dinner.
The work: Two IP68 submersible spots grazing the reed bed, a single narrow-beam uplight on the sculpture, and warm uplights on the birches behind it to give the scene depth.
The result: The pond now mirrors the lit trees back at the house — the view the owners bought the place for, extended into the evening.
The brief: A formal walled rose garden with a central fountain, mostly enjoyed from the drawing room — the client wanted the axial view held after dark.
The work: Paired uplights at the base of each standard bay, a submersible warm-white in the fountain basin, and discreet path-edge spots grazing the brick.
The result: The symmetry reads at night the way it does at noon — fountain lit, bays glowing, roses picked out without a hard edge anywhere.
The brief: A timber summerhouse at the far end of the lawn that was the whole point of the garden — and completely lost after 5pm in winter.
The work: Warm interior wash inside the summerhouse itself, a single low uplight grazing the pitched roof, and a pair of buried spots picking out the yew and the stepping stones leading to it.
The result: A destination at the end of the garden that pulls the eye from the house — coats on, glass of wine, worth the walk.
The brief: A family garden with a new herringbone path, mature ornamentals and a raised olive-tree border — a scheme, not a scattering of lights.
The work: 22 fittings on a single 12V transformer: buried uplights on the standard trees, low-level spots grazing the path, and warm wall-wash on the render behind the raised bed.
The result: One coherent evening scene from every window on the ground floor, and a path the children can actually see from the house.
The brief: A Victorian rear garden a few streets from the marina — salt air has already eaten the previous installer's fittings; owners wanted something that would last.
The work: Marine-grade 316 stainless spike uplights and brass path lights throughout, uplighting both walled borders and grazing the brickwork of the extension.
The result: The garden reads as an extension of the lit kitchen after dark — and the fittings will still look like this in ten winters, not two.
The brief: A pair of stone gate piers and a mature Japanese maple that were the best part of the front garden — and completely lost the moment the sun went behind the house.
The work: Miniature buried uplights at the base of each pier washing up the stonework, a wide-beam warm uplight under the acer, and low spots grazing the hydrangea border on both sides of the path.
The result: Arrival now has a rhythm — piers, path, acer, front door — instead of a dark tunnel and a porch light doing all the work.
The brief: A family who use their patio through spring and autumn wanted the space to keep working past sundown, without a floodlight on the back of the house ruining it.
The work: Low-level spike uplights along the fence line turning the boards into a warm backdrop, a submersible warm-white inside the copper water bowl, and shielded path lights edging the sandstone.
The result: A patio that reads as an outdoor room the moment the sky goes cobalt — sofa, table, water feature all lit, and not a single fitting visible from the sofa.
The brief: A contemporary rear courtyard behind a townhouse, built around a board-marked concrete wall, two tree ferns and a corten steel rill — architectural by day, flat by evening.
The work: Narrow-beam uplights at the base of each tree fern to throw the fronds onto the wall, a wide graze along the concrete to hold its texture, and submersible warm-whites picking out the water as it lands.
The result: The wall, the ferns and the water all read at night — the courtyard the owners commissioned by day, held through the evening.
The brief: A plain brick side return with a stable door — the main view from the kitchen sink, and completely dead after sundown.
The work: A single up-and-down wall fitting sized to the brickwork throwing a clean hourglass onto the wall, plus a spike uplight buried in the corten planter grazing the shrub and grasses.
The result: One considered wall light and one buried spot — the whole side return now reads as an intentional evening view, not a forgotten path to the bins.
The brief: A period Meads house set above the road, reached by a run of brick steps through deep mixed borders — beautiful in daylight, and a genuine trip hazard after sundown.
The work: Recessed low-glare step lights set into the retaining brick at every second riser, plus buried warm uplights washing the grasses and lavender on both sides of the climb.
The result: Every tread is legible from the pavement, the borders read as one continuous lit garden, and the porch lantern is finally doing its actual job — welcoming, not floodlighting.
The design visit includes an on-site survey, a bespoke lighting plan, and a fixed itemised quote — no obligation to go ahead, and the plan is yours to keep either way.
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