This courtyard near busy Brixton was designed to be a pleasant green retreat from the bustle of city life. Screening from the neighbours, a sense of enclosure and some romantic planting were desired.

The living room and kitchen opens onto a small paved terrace where pots can be displayed, from here you move through, winding right-angled pathways and low raised beds to a hidden space at the back, large enough for a small table and chairs and surrounded by dense planting.

Scented climbers scramble up the boundary trellis and drifts of flowering shrubs and perennials fill the garden with colour and scent, softening the angular structure of the paving, encouraging nature in and creating a verdant urban oasis.