Garden Lighting in Surrey

Name: Wild By Design
Price range: $$

Designed and installed garden lighting for the gardens of Surrey and Sussex. Discreet, low-voltage, controlled by app or switch, and built into the garden plan from the start.

Our garden lighting Surrey installations are designed as part of the garden scheme from the outset — not retrofitted afterwards — so every cable run, transformer location, and fitting position is planned before the first turf is laid or the first path is set.

We specify low voltage garden lighting systems (12V or 24V) on every residential project — they’re safer to install and maintain, use a fraction of the energy of mains systems, and are far easier to expand or reconfigure as the garden evolves.

Garden lighting installation carried out during a build rather than after it avoids the most common pitfalls — cables buried at the right depth, conduit run under hardscaping before it’s laid, and no ugly surface-mounted trunking as an afterthought.

Good garden lighting design uses restraint — uplighting a single specimen tree, washing a textured wall, and marking a path with low bollards creates far more atmosphere than floodlighting everything, and draws the eye to the garden’s best features after dark.

Our outdoor lighting Surrey projects include everything from simple path and step safety lighting through to full atmospheric schemes with DALI control systems, scene-setting, and integration with smart home platforms.

Most garden lighting in Surrey is bought in a box from a DIY shop and stuck in around the patio. The result is a bright glare on one corner and a black garden everywhere else. We design lighting like the rest of the garden, scene by scene, plant by plant.

Discreet, low-voltage fittings

Quality brass, copper and stainless fittings hidden in planting and paving. You see the light, not the lamp.

Designed into the garden

Lighting plans drawn before any cable goes in the ground. Scenes for dinner, summer evenings, winter, and security.

Smart and switched controls

Wall switches, timer, photocell or smart-app control. Scenes set up for the way you actually use the garden.

Why most garden lighting falls flat

Garden lighting bought from a shop and stuck in by an electrician usually looks like this:

a bright security floodlight that washes out the whole garden
festoon strings on the patio, dark beyond
spike lights pointing up into nobody’s eye level
visible cables, visible drivers, visible junction boxes
one big “on” switch, no scenes, no dimming
mains-voltage wiring that’s hard to alter once buried

A garden that looks great by day disappears at night. The light is either too bright, in the wrong place, or pointing at the wrong thing.

What Wild by Design does differently

We design lighting like the rest of the garden. A lighting plan drawn against the planting plan, fittings spec’d to the property, cables run before any planting goes in. That means:

low-voltage transformers and cabling, easy to alter and safe to touch
quality brass and stainless fittings (Hunza, Collingwood, John Cullen standard)
warm 2700K lamps unless cooler tones suit the property
planting up-lights for trees, shrubs, sculptural shapes
path and step lights flush-mounted into hard landscaping
scenes preset for entertaining, summer evenings, winter and security

The result is a garden that looks deliberate after dark, not floodlit. You see the lit objects, you don’t see the lights.

What’s included in our lighting installs:

Lighting design, cabling, transformers, fittings, scenes and aftercare, the whole job, not just the bulbs

Up-Lights, Down-Lights and Path Lights

The three types of fitting that do almost all the work in a Surrey garden.

Up-lights placed at the base of specimen trees and large shrubs, pointing into the canopy. The tree becomes the feature after dark.

Down-lights hidden in pergolas, eaves or higher branches, casting a soft pool of light onto seating or paving below. The lit area is the patio, the lamp is invisible.

Path and step lights flush-fitted into hard landscaping, low output, marking the route. They guide the eye, they don’t dazzle.

A typical Surrey garden needs 15 to 30 fittings across those three categories. Garden too dark with 10 fittings, garden too busy with 50.

Low-Voltage, Safe to Touch, Easy to Alter

Every install we do is 12V or 24V low-voltage.

Why it matters: the cable is safe to touch, can be re-routed without a Part P electrician, and lets you add or move fittings later as the garden grows. Mains-voltage systems lock the layout in on day one. Move a plant, lose a fitting.

The transformer sits in the garage, an outhouse or a weather-rated enclosure outside. Run lengths are calculated to avoid voltage drop. We use Hunza, Collingwood, John Cullen and similar premium brass fittings as standard.

Final wiring sign-off is done by a Part P registered electrician. You get a full installation certificate and a maintenance schedule.

Smart Control and Scene Setting

One switch for the whole garden is a waste of a lighting scheme. We zone every garden into three to five scenes, controlled from a wall switch, the app or both.

Typical scenes:

Welcome (path and entrance only, low output) for arriving home in winter.
Dinner (patio and immediate planting, dimmed) for eating outside.
Summer evening (full garden, planting up-lights, dimmed) for sitting out.
Security (mid-output across the property, photocell-triggered) for when you’re away.

The system can run on a timer, a photocell, or smart-app schedules tied to sunset. Set it up once, leave it. We hand the app over already configured with named scenes and an explainer for any non-technical user.

If you want a sense of what a designed scheme can do, our blog on garden lighting ideas walks through real examples.

Lighting on a New Build or Retrofit

Best time to install lighting: at the same time as a new garden build or patio install, before the hard landscaping goes down. We run conduit and cabling for free under any patio we lay (see our patio installation service) and any driveway we install (resin bound driveways).

Retrofit is fine too. Most established gardens can be lit without disturbing the planting, using cable channels along bed edges, under turf with a half-moon edging tool, or threaded through hedging. It takes longer than a new-build install but the result is the same.

Whichever route, the lighting plan comes first. We map it on a drawing, walk it on the ground at dusk if helpful, then dig.

How much does garden lighting cost in Surrey?

A designed and installed low-voltage scheme typically costs between £2,500 and £15,000 supplied and laid. The range reflects garden size, number of fittings, fitting brand and whether smart control is included.

A rough guide:

Small back garden, 8 to 12 fittings, switched control: £2,500 to £4,500
Average Surrey garden, 15 to 25 fittings, smart-app control: £5,000 to £9,000
Larger property, 30 to 50 fittings, multi-zone smart control: £9,000 to £15,000
Estate-scale schemes (over 1 acre): from £15,000

Every project gets a written quote after a site visit (which often happens at dusk). No hidden extras, no surprise call-outs for re-aiming once it’s dark.

Areas of Surrey and Sussex we cover

We design and install garden lighting across Surrey from our Dorking base, with site visits anywhere within an hour’s drive.

Surrey: Woking, Guildford, Dorking, Reigate, Cobham, Weybridge, Leatherhead, Esher, Epsom, Ashtead and Farnham.

Sussex: Horsham, Crawley, Haywards Heath, East Grinstead and the surrounding villages.

See our full garden design and build service across Surrey for related work.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does garden lighting cost to install?

Most Surrey gardens come in between £2,500 and £15,000 for a designed and installed low-voltage scheme. A small back garden with 8 to 12 fittings sits around £2,500 to £4,500. An average garden with 15 to 25 fittings and smart control runs £5,000 to £9,000. Larger properties with multi-zone control run £9,000 to £15,000.

What is the best garden lighting?

For most domestic gardens, low-voltage LED fittings in brass or copper from brands like Hunza, Collingwood or John Cullen. Low-voltage is safer, easier to alter, and cheaper to run than mains-voltage. LED gives the lifespan and warm colour temperature needed. Brass and copper develop a natural patina rather than rusting.

Do I need an electrician to install garden lighting?

For mains-voltage outdoor lighting, yes, you need a Part P registered electrician. For low-voltage 12V or 24V systems, the cable is safe to handle and can be installed by a competent garden professional, with a Part P electrician signing off the final transformer connection. Every install we do gets a full electrical certificate.

What colour temperature should garden lighting be?

Warm 2700K is the standard for most gardens. It flatters planting, foliage and natural stone, and looks like candlelight at low output. Cooler 3000K to 4000K works on contemporary properties with hard architectural lines. Anything above 4000K looks clinical and is best avoided in a garden.

Can garden lighting be controlled by an app?

Yes. Most low-voltage systems we install can be controlled by a smart-app (Loxone, Lutron, Casambi, or Philips Hue-compatible). Scenes can be preset, scheduled to sunset, or triggered by motion sensors. The app is set up before handover and we walk you through it.

How long does garden lighting last?

Quality brass and copper fittings last 20 to 30 years with annual maintenance (clean the lenses, check the seals, re-aim if planting has grown). LED lamps inside the fittings typically last 30,000 to 50,000 hours, around 15 to 20 years on a typical garden’s nightly use.

Can lighting be added to an existing garden?

Yes. We retrofit lighting into established gardens regularly. Cable runs go under bed edges, through hedging, or under turf with a half-moon edger. There’s no need to dig up planting or hard landscaping. A retrofit takes slightly longer than a new-build install but the result is the same.

Book a site visit (at dusk if possible)

Garden lighting always works best when designed from a dusk visit. We walk the garden at the right time of day, see the views you want lit, the parts you want darker, and follow up with a lighting plan and quote inside a week. No obligation, no high-pressure sell.

Get in touch

Or call the team direct, find the number on our contact page.