About 18 minutes from our Broadmeadow yard
A new house in Cameron Park often comes with a slope and builder's turf. Fernline Landscapes turns new estate blocks into flat, usable gardens that drain and suit the bushland around them, about 18 minutes from our Broadmeadow yard.
NSW contractor licence, structural landscaping: Lic. 000000C (demo)
On a Cameron Park block, the builder's job ends at the back step. The slope behind it is yours, and it needs a plan.
Cameron Park is one of Lake Macquarie's newest suburbs. It took its present name in 2001, most of its houses have gone up since the late 1990s, and the 2021 census counted almost 10,000 people with a median age of 33. The ground rolls, so many blocks were cut and filled to sit the house level, leaving a bank on one side and a fall on the other. Some streets finish at the bush, and the council maps those edges as bush fire prone; hazard reduction burns have been carried out right beside the houses.
Most Cameron Park gardens start in the same place: a new house, a strip of builder's turf, a bare bank at the back and a backyard that slopes more than you noticed on the display plans. Most of the suburb has been built since the late 1990s, so the homes are young and so are the gardens around them. That's good news: nothing has to be torn out, and your garden starts on a blank block.
It does mean the first steps aren't the fun ones. Builder's turf is often laid on compacted fill with a thin layer of soil, so it browns off in the first hot summer. Stormwater from the roof and the slope needs somewhere to go. We sort the soil, the levels and the drainage before the lawn and garden beds go in, so the garden you pay for is still alive in three years.
The ground across Cameron Park rolls, and many blocks were cut into the hill on one side and filled on the other. You end up with a bank behind the house and a drop at the back fence. A tall single wall is rarely the answer. Two lower walls with a planted terrace between them usually cost less and give you two flat spaces instead of one. Each can be exempt from approval only if it's 600mm or lower, at least 2m horizontally from the next wall and at least 1m from the boundary, with drainage connected to your stormwater; tighter terraces need approval, and you'll know which before you choose. Every wall gets drainage and gravel behind it, because water building up in the soil is what pushes walls over.
Parts of Cameron Park back onto bushland, and that land is on the council's bush fire prone land map. Living next to the bush is a big part of why people like the suburb, and a garden can make the most of it without adding to the risk. Close to the house, keep things low and open: lawn, paving, gravel paths and low, spaced plants. Put the taller, denser planting further out. It's easier to maintain, it's easier to clear before summer, and it still looks like a garden.
Gutters and roof lines matter too. We keep trees that drop a lot of leaves and bark away from the house, and choose mulch for the beds nearest the walls carefully: gravel or pebble close in, organic mulch further out.
The bank behind the house used to wash onto the paving every storm. Two sleeper terraces and planting, and it hasn't moved since.
Ben, Cameron Park · Sample review
Block or sleeper walls that hold back the cut the builder left, with drainage and backfill behind them, so the bank stops slumping onto your paving every storm.
Retaining walls in Cameron ParkTurning builder's turf on compacted fill into a real garden: rip and improve the soil, sort the levels and stormwater, then turf, beds and a path to the clothesline.
Turf in Cameron ParkPlanting, paths and surfaces for blocks that back onto bush, with the area closest to the house kept low, open and easy to clear before fire season.
Garden design in Cameron ParkSometimes, if it's grassed, gentle and not moving. A bare or steep cut usually isn't stable for long: rain washes soil onto your paving and the toe slowly creeps towards the house. We'll tell you whether it needs a wall, a set of terraces, or just planting to hold it.
Keep the zone right around the house low and open: lawn, paving, gravel and low, well-spaced plants, with nothing that drops bark or leaves onto the roof. Save the denser planting for further from the house. The NSW RFS has guidance on gardens in bush fire areas, and we design with it in mind.
Most garden work, like planting, turf and low walls, doesn't need approval. If part of your project does need a development application, bushfire rules come into the assessment. We check your block against the council's map before we design, so there are no surprises.
On a gentle slope, yes, and it's cheaper. Past a certain fall, a lawn gets hard to mow and water runs straight off it. We usually suggest one low wall to make a flat lawn area and planting on the rest of the slope, which holds the soil and needs no mowing.
They can. Many new estates have covenants on the title covering things like front fences, retaining wall materials or how soon the front yard must be finished. Check your contract of sale or ask your conveyancer, and give us a copy so the design fits.
Usually because it was laid straight on compacted fill with almost no topsoil, so the roots can't go down and it dries out fast. Fixing it means lifting the turf, ripping the ground, adding proper soil and relaying, rather than more water and fertiliser.
A few photos and a rough idea is enough. We'll ring to book a free site visit, then send a fixed quote with a drawing.