Why Fencing and Gates Work Best as a Pair

A fence on its own rarely does the whole job. There is usually a gap at the side of the house, a route through to the bins, or an opening onto a shared path — and that is exactly where a gate earns its keep. Treat the two as one project and you get a boundary that feels deliberate: continuous lines, consistent heights, and no awkward joins where a panel stops and nothing takes its place. The result is not just screening. It is a garden that feels like a room, with a clear sense of arrival when you step through the gate.

Choosing Panels That Shut Out Prying Eyes

If privacy is the priority, overlapping boards are hard to beat. Closeboard panels — also sold as feather edge — use vertical boards fixed to horizontal rails, each board overlapping the one beside it. Nothing shows through, wind resistance is decent, and the finish looks solid and traditional. Lap panels do a similar job with horizontal boards and usually cost a little less.

Where you want a bit of movement in the air, look at hit and miss: boards are fixed alternately to the front and back of the rails, so you get screening from most angles while the wind passes through. That is a sensible choice on exposed sites where a solid panel would behave like a sail.

• Closeboard: maximum privacy, robust, suits taller boundaries.
• Lap panels: good value, quick to fit, dependable screening.
• Hit and miss: privacy with airflow, contemporary look.
• Gravel boards: fit at the base to keep boards clear of wet ground and extend their life.

Trellis and Slatted Screens: Privacy Without the Gloom

Full-height solid fencing can make a small garden feel like a corridor. The trick is to mix solid and open sections. A trellis panel fixed above a 1.5 metre closeboard fence lifts the total height and blocks the view from a neighbouring upstairs window, while still letting light filter through. Climbing plants — jasmine, honeysuckle, clematis or a climbing rose — will soon fill the trellis and soften the structure.

Slatted screens work on the same principle. Horizontal slats with small gaps give a modern look and cut out most sightlines while keeping the space bright. Combine slatted panels near seating areas with solid panels along the boundary where overlooking is worst, and you get privacy exactly where you need it rather than everywhere.

Gates That Match the Fence

A gate should look as though it belongs. Matching the panel style, board width and height makes the whole run read as one piece of work. Pedestrian gates are usually 900mm to 1 metre wide — wide enough for a wheelbarrow, narrow enough to feel secure. Anything wider needs a sturdier frame and heavier hinges.

A few details make a real difference:

• Diagonal bracing: essential on any timber gate over about 900mm wide, to stop it dropping.
• Hanging posts: set them in concrete, not just rammed earth. Gates pull hard on their posts.
• Clearance: leave 10–15mm under the gate so it does not drag when the ground swells.
• Ironmongery: choose galvanised or stainless hinges and latches; they cope with British weather far better.

Getting the Height and Installation Right

In England and Wales, a fence or gate over 2 metres needs planning permission; the limit drops to 1 metre where it sits next to a highway. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, so check with your local authority before ordering anything taller than you might expect. If in doubt, keep to 1.8 metres and add trellis above — but remember the trellis counts towards the total height.

Set posts at least 600mm into the ground, deeper on light or sandy soil, and concrete them in. Space them no more than 1.8 metres apart for standard panels. Run a string line before you dig so the fence stays straight, and check levels as you go rather than at the end. Fence panels have a good side and a less good side, and so do gates. Be neighbourly about which one faces out; it is a conversation worth having early rather than after the posts are set.

Keep It Looking Good Year After Year

Timber fencing rewards a little attention. Treat new panels and gates with a wood preserver or a coloured stain, and reapply every two or three years. Pay particular attention to the bottom of gate stiles and the base of posts, where rot starts. Keep heavy climbers off the gate itself — the weight and the trapped damp will shorten its life. Check hinges and latches each spring, tighten anything loose, and oil the moving parts so the gate still swings sweetly in ten years' time.

Do that and a well-built fence with a matching gate will give you a private, sheltered garden for fifteen years or more — and a boundary that looks as though it was always meant to be there.