Stone Cottage Patio with Timber Pergola

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

• The paving material and how its joints are handled
• Whether the furniture footprint fits with room to move
• Shade at 4 pm, not just at noon