Each day, it is from indoors that Julia Hickman catches the first glimpse of her garden at Elmbridge Lodge: a delightful picture that never fails to halt her in her tracks, no matter what the season. In the foreground a rose pergola frames a tiered view of flowers and foliage filling terraces that tame a gentle slope. “Looking out, I don’t see any sky, just the planting as it rises in layers, and it feels as if there are no other houses nearby,” says Julia.
It takes considerable imagination to envisage the outlook as it was just eight years ago, when Julia and her late husband, Peter, bought the Surrey townhouse off-plan with only
