By Rachel Nott

Published: Tuesday, 28 June 2022 at 12:00 am

As sunnier days are here, it’s time to focus on your outdoor space, and our guides to buying antique garden statuary, sundials, bistro sets and more will help you to furnish your garden and help it look its best.

Meanwhile Luke Honey uncovers the curious history of croquet, Rhiannon Batten takes a look at famous pleasure gardens of the past and unravels the Georgians’ obsession with them, and Poppy Benner gives us a potted history of hedge mazes.

Our houses all reflect the colours and joy of summer, from a bright, flower-filled home in Port Dover, Canada, to a beautifully and sympathetically updated chateau in Brittany that’s been in the family for 400 years and is now run as a B&B.