Research conducted by garden and conservatory experts Alfresia found that homeowners found lawns and grassed areas were ‘high maintenance’ and preferred other types of outdoor space.

More than a quarter of homes no longer have a real grass lawn attached to their properties, the survey found.

More than half of homeowners prefer decking to lawns (57%), while 55% would rather have a patio in their back garden. Garden rooms and summer houses were popular with one fifth of respondents, as homeowners looked to maximise the living space available to them.

Two-thirds of people said they did not have the time to maintain a lawn, but an increasing number were installing astroturf in order to retain a green look in their garden.

Craig Corbett, marketing manager at Alfresia, said people often struggled to find time to maintain their gardens to a sufficient standard.

“As a time-poor nation, we’re constantly looking for ways to maintain our homes and outdoor space, with minimum effort and minimum cost,” he said.

“Maintaining a lawn can take a lot of work. There’s mowing, fertilizing and not forgetting the task of watering it when it hasn’t rained for a few days – taking up time that Brits don’t have.

Corbett said that installing decking or patios would mean that outdoor space could be used more often.

“Of course, having a patio or decking fitted in the garden often means sacrificing some, if not all of the lawn space,” he added. “These garden fixtures are becoming increasingly common, and this combined with the fact that adults in the UK don’t feel the same way about their lawns as they used to, it’s no surprise that lawns have shrunk nearly 50% over the past 10 years.”