The Victorian age gave us many garden innovations, from domestic greenhouses to lawnmowers. However their horticultural gifts weren’t always so helpful. By creating street after street of terraced housing their legacy would challenge generations of urban gardeners: the pesky side return.

With buildings looming on three sides, these narrow spaces are inevitably gloomy and homeowners are often tempted to swallow up the return as part of an extension, use it for outdoor storage or simply view it as little more than a pathway to somewhere better.
Fortunately, there is another way! With clever planting and imaginative landscaping, a dark strip of land can become an attractive view from multiple windows as well as a useful addition of outdoor living space. After all, if the Victorians taught us anything it was to be inventive.

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