I have white hydrangeas at the moment and love them but they haven't done very well (but it's a different climate where I am just now). Yes, I'll give them another go if they're ok on the edge of the Pennines - the new garden is in the Cairngorms. Perfumed flowers are a nice idea so I'm going to add the mock orange to my plant list. I've succeeded with cornflowers, forget-me-nots and love in the mist but funnily enough never had success with heather. To be honest there's plenty of the natural stuff all around so I'll probably give it a miss. I've a question about tall grasses? How would they cope with the weight of snow? Presently I have bamboo (about 1m tall in pots) and it manages to cope with big dumps of snow but I do shake off whatever snow I can before it freezes and the sun is out. I'm also considering alliums along with the tulips, crocus, snowdrops etc Other plants I'm thinking follow but I'm stuck for ideas for other times of the year. I've grown some of these from seed before and don't mind so much if they fail: roses lupins delphiniums solomon’s seal lily of the valley phlox peony Japanese anemone campanula grannies bonnets foxgloves helibore lilies gladiola dahlia geranium hosta rhododendron foxgloves agapanthus moon daisies canterbury bells

My advice....avoid a North facing back garden if you can. you can change most things about a house except its aspect. i lived in a house with nth facing back garden and poor enough front sun too becasue of neighbouring house and it was depressing to live in, cold in the summer when everywhere else was bathed in sunshine. Clever architectural design can ometimes put in velux windows and large picture windows to the front to capture the sun, but in reality we all live in the rear of our houses most of the time. On a practical level, do you really want to have to walk to the rear of your garden to enjoy your patio, when closer to the house would be more sheltered? Do you want clothes to dry on the line all year round (clothes lines usually near the house), do you want your car baked in sunshine in the summer sitting in your front drive? you didnt say where you live, but i live in a country where the weather is very mxed and we value every ray of sunshine we get. as we cant sit out all year round, nor anything like it, we need the sunshine to come into our living space as much as possible. hope this helps? Emm

Hi! We have a north facing kitchen/dining/living area with a patio facing west and a window on the east side. We went for a lighter colour (slipper satin) on the kitchen units as they are at the 'back' of the room (ie you enter the kitchen from the hallway, then the living/dining area is at the patio/garden end). It is a lovely soft off white and doesn't look cream because of the cooler light north facing rooms get. We opted for Drop Cloth (also F&B) on walls which a lot of people comment on as it looks nice and warm and not too dark nor too pale. Our accent colour on the island/kitchen peninsula is Railings as I have other dark blue accents in my furnishings. If you are going for Downpipe on the island, I would possibly go for Strong White on your units as Ammonite can look quite cold. I have used S White on both walls and woodwork in other areas of my home and love it. Farrow & Ball told me it suits north light well, as does Wimborne White - which is a lovely warm white. Have you tried a sample of it at all? As for the tiles, I much prefer the blanc ones, think they look more modern. I have attached pics of my kitchen and hallway (which has strong white). I also have an instagram page Dekko Bird you could see more pics on. Hope this helps a little! keira x

You are welcome. If you don't like straight lines I once made a raised round bed/seating area with half round posts, placed 45cm in the ground. Sweet pea arches might be good….sorry not much into veg growing, but I'm sure others are… There is a calculation for wind ‘buffers’ …ie when the wind hits an object it creates an arc but you don't want trees/hedges too high to block your sun….maybe some mathematicians can advise… You have a lovely outlook i hope you have fun creating your garden