Originally published on 29th November 2014 within the Nottingham Evening Post.

Last time I talked about disguising boundaries and stopping a garden from looking and feeling like an enclosed box. This week I'm expanding on this idea and it's all about the view from the house....

Whilst the spring and summer give plenty of opportunity to go outside and enjoy the garden, autumn and winter weather often make the garden a 'no go' zone for many people (except the hardiest gardeners out there!) But does this mean the garden is only of use for 6-7 months of the year? part of the house to be shut away now until next spring?

One of the first things I did this morning, and generally the first thing I do every morning, was to look out the kitchen windows into the garden to see what it was like before walking the dog. That view is incredibly important to us as a family; living in a built up street in the city, it's one of the only green parts of our view and anchors us to the outside real world when stuck inside. Lots of other people clearly recognise this and the surge of bi-fold doors and picture windows is testament to this. So clearly the garden, as well as a space to go into, is equally important as a space to look out onto.

This is a key aspect when first looking at a garden from a design point of view. Time is often needed and photos taken of the view from each and every window that looks out onto the garden. If you're designing your own garden, looking at these views is one of the best ways to get to know your garden and how it is seen over the seasons. Then when drawing the initial concept, care is needed to mark out each of the ground floor windows and doors to help see how these relate to the space. Placing a large shrub, tree or climber somewhere that is quickly going to block out the light or close down the view is often one to avoid, but guiding the viewers eye to a feature or part of the garden by effectively blinkering that aspect can work well and be particularly interesting if this is done differently from the alternative windows.

Another key aspect of the view from the house is to try and avoid giving the whole game away. Whilst you may not want to go outside when its wet and miserable, a garden that cannot be viewed in full from indoors is preferable as this makes the space more interesting and inviting and make you and your guests want to take a look around (perhaps in better weather). If you can see everything in one glance then it's done and dusted and there is no reason to go outside and 'smell the roses' which I think as most keen gardeners would agree is a waste!

As well as ensuring you can't see all of the garden, a great result (when possible) is to give the impression that the garden continues further than it actually does and borrowing the landscape around. Trees outside the garden are great for this and blocking the view of the boundary in front of these with plants or screens can be very effective. Obviously every garden is different and surroundings aren't always rolling hills or woodland and so if borrowed landscape isn't possible then drawing the eye in to the foreground with a feature or planting is sometimes better.

So while the weather is keeping us indoors make the most of your garden over the next few months and look at how you see things from indoors and make a plan for when those signs of spring return and signal a time to get back out and get started.