Flanked by a high brick wall on one side and a succession of bedrooms on the other, this internal courtyard garden extends to over 30 metres and is set in its own private mews in west London. Charming and tranquil, it’s cobbled underfoot, with trees and creeping foliage growing up the wall that create a wonderful sense of privacy. The glazed roof protects it from the elements, making it just as magical a space in the winter as the summer.

It’s hard to believe that this “Segal Method” house in south London is even in the city. Surrounded by mature trees and with its own densely planted garden, it has a wonderfully wild feel to it. The garden, reached via a set of steps that lead down from a dining terrace, features brick paths, raised beds and decked areas, which provide ideal outdoor dining spots. Equally useful is the large storage area beneath the house that is accessed from the garden.

This courtyard garden in Kensal Rise reflects the monastic spareness of the house it accompanies, taking its inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi. The courtyard is accessed through arched glazed doors from the dining area and living room and features an outdoor shower. Pebbles underfoot mirror the tones of the concrete used throughout the house, while a Japanese Acer tree introduces a splash of green to the otherwise muted space.

When Adam Sykes bought this 1960s house in Wimbledon in 2014, he redesigned the garden so that it would form a dialogue with the house. “It was previously a very traditional south London affair and that style seems so anally retentive to me, with a bit of lavender here, a few bay trees there,” Adam told us when we visited the house and garden as part of our ‘My Modern House’ series. “Mine’s a funny garden, and totally eclectic, but a messy contrast to the house.” It’s a delight, executed in a thoughtful combination of tree ferns, foxgloves and lush foliage.

The garden surrounding this single-storey modernist house in Kent reflects the landscape in which it sits – the windswept expanse of the Dungeness peninsula. Mirroring the house, which is clad in timber and corten steel, the garden is made from pebbles, driftwood, scrap metal and a selection of well-chosen hardy plants that can tolerate the windy, shingle environment. Former Dungeness resident, the artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman, once wrote, “the charm of Dungeness is that it has no fences – to build one would go against the grain.” This garden follows suit, seamlessly petering into the shingle with a line of wooden planks discretely marking the perimeter.

Merging with the woodland surrounding it, this tiered garden in Essex perfectly complements the timber clad house it encompasses. A wall of glazing in the open-plan living, dining and kitchen area blurs the boundaries between inside and out and provides views of the thoughtfully landscaped garden, with its rich selection of native trees and beautifully planted herbaceous borders. The garden is something of an oasis, also incorporating a self-contained, light-filled studio.

Described by English Heritage as “the leading English manifestation of the courtyard house”, this mid-1960s house in Hertfordshire features an internal courtyard and a densely planted rear garden. The latter is achieved through herbaceous borders, brimming with salvia, echinops, tree ferns, trailing geraniums and climbers, which sit in contrast with the manicured box-hedge that delineates the borders.

Surrounded by rolling Welsh countryside, this 19th century cottage and garden in Camarthenshire is the stuff of dreams. Stretching to just under an acre, the gardens wrap around the house, consisting of a restored orchard, an organic “no-dig” vegetable garden and borders that are planted with foxgloves, climbing roses and verbena. Like the house, the garden feels relaxed – it even has a grass sofa where the former owners would sit and drink tea. “The gardens are as special as the house, with a feeling that you can’t contrive,” Jamie Seaton told us when we visited him and his wife Jessica’s home as part of our ‘Open House’ series.

Although architect Sandra Coppin claims to be a “rubbish, but very enthusiastic gardener”, there’s very little evidence of the former at her 1960s modernist house in Wiltshire. Espalier fruit trees grow up one wall, while swathes of ferns border the house. “Autumn is spectacular here, and it’s a very busy time for us in the garden, harvesting and processing the ripe fruit and vegetables,” says Sandra when we visited the house as part of our ‘My Modern House’ series.

It is not so much a garden, but the surrounding landscape that captures the imagination at this clean-lined modernist holiday home in the Scottish Highlands. Sitting in a tranquil spot above Loch Rannoch, the house is surrounded by water and the rolling mountains of the West Highlands. “Living here is incredibly good for the soul, but it also makes you realise we’re not just here to observe the natural world: we’re part of a larger ecosystem and connected to nature in that way makes you think twice about our impact on it,” architect Seamus Shanks told us when we visited the house for our ‘My Modern House’ series. “I don’t think there is a single person out there who wouldn’t be able to connect with the natural environment here.”