Inspired by...

I didn't get to see much of the series 'Around the World in 80 Gardens' on the ABC when it was on, but one idea from an episode I did see stuck in my head, and I've just completed my version of it!  I call it my 'secret deck' (although the Schoolboy had decided that it would be a perfect hide-and-seek hiding place for him before I'd even screwed down the deck top).  The original was a horse-shoe shaped hedge just over waist height, with quite a  narrow opening.  Inside was a crushed rock area just large enough for a sun-lounge.  When you were on the sun-lounge no one could see that you were inside, and all that you were aware of was the greenery.  Fantastic!

We live in a double storey house, and so do the neighbours on either side, so when you're in our back yard you can see other people's bedroom and hallway windows from just about everywhere.  I'm growing hedges to help break that down a bit, but relative seclusion is still a few years away.  The secret deck is behind one of the established hedges (its at its final (chest) height on one end, and around waist height at the other), and between my citrus trees which I've planted in a U shape with this in mind.  In time they'll form a 3-sided hedge around the deck.  The idea is that in the end there will be a 1/2 metre or so wide walkway which'll lead to the deck, and once you're inside you won't be able to be seen.  Already the side fence and the hedge offer privacy from the neighbour with the most windows.

I used timber the builders left behind when they replaced our front pergola a few years ago for the deck itself, supported on the old veggie patch garden beds and some treated pine (all up the cost was less than $50, as I also used paint we already had).  It's small, measuring 1.9m x 1.2m, but big enough to sit/lie on with a book / have a picnic with one of the boys.  Very satisfied with myself because I did the whole lot myself (with some help from the Man to speed up screwing down the top after dinner last night) and it took less than a week.

Sorry, I think I'm waffling, I'm so happy to have seen this project through to completion - it's been on my mind for quite a while.