The project was a collaboration between an architect, a landscape designer and us.

One friend has taken a different kind of gardening leave: retraining as a landscape designer after a decade working in the theatre.

All the main rooms are partly made up of floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto the secure courtyard gardens, created by a landscape designer.

Hire a local gardener for a few hours here and there, rather than a professional landscape designer, and economise by growing from small plants and seed.

A landscape designer created planting plans.