Nearly 20 years ago, we bought a house in north London, not just for the building itself, but because hidden behind the terraced row was a secluded garden – a delightful surprise in this central Londo

Behind a high beech hedge, where southwest London meets wild common land, garden designer Lucy Willcox has created a hidden sanctuary blending mid-century structure with contemporary naturalistic plan

It was while filming an episode of Lewis in an Oxford college garden that Tom Simpson fell in love – and within moments decided to abandon his peripatetic life in film and retrain as a garden designer

John and Jenny Brett have created an all-year garden design at St Mary’s, combining formal plant structures with colourful insect-friendly perennials, but in winter, when dusted with white and dancing with shadows, the garden shimmers

The quiet beauty of winter sets the stage in this garden, where topiary shapes and the borrowed landscape are the main performers

This is my annual guilty pleasure. By early December I am as frantic as anyone. As I hurriedly plant the last of my bulbs and make sure to complete essential deadlines before the end of the year, I co