Sweetness & light

REAL readers' gardens! Putting the garden to bed ...

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

Romantic planting with a sleek modern style creates a striking mix in this Hertfordshire garden

Throughout the festive season, this lively family home is decked with a gorgeous mix of garlands, greenery, flowers and trees that take their cue from the surrounding Yorkshire woodland

In winter, when the art school here at Benton End closed for the year and the garden fell quiet, Cedric Morris would head to warmer climes to escape the chill of his 16th-century house, but also to pa