Sunken Fire Pit with Built-in Benches

Design notes

English cottage design is abundance with a plan. Look for brick, flagstone or gravel paths that give the eye a route, borders packed with roses, foxgloves, lavender, catmint and delphiniums, and a little structure from clipped box, a picket fence or an arbour. Materials are aged — reclaimed brick, painted timber, weathered stone — and there is always somewhere to sit: a bench under a tree, a bistro table by the door.

What to look for

• Conversation-distance seating all the way around
• Setback from structures, fences and branches
• A dry, lit path back to the house