Small Space, Big Summer: Where to Begin

A townhouse garden is rarely generous. You might have a flagged yard behind the house, a narrow strip beside a back lane, or a courtyard that catches sun for four hours and then doesn't. None of that rules out a proper green retreat. It simply means being deliberate about what earns its place.

Start by watching the light. Most Durham townhouse yards face east or west, which means you either get gentle morning sun and afternoon shade, or the reverse. If your space is bright before nine, that is exactly where a small table and two chairs belong, because morning coffee in the open air is the whole point. Note where the wind funnels between walls, too, and where rainwater collects on the flags. Those two details will shape everything else.

Then treat the yard as a room. Decide where you sit, where you look, and where you walk. Everything else is planting.

Pots That Work Hard All Season

Buy the largest pots you can comfortably fit and afford. Small pots dry out twice a day in July and leave you tied to the watering can. Anything from 35cm to 45cm across is a sensible minimum for shrubs, roses and taller perennials, and wider is better than taller.

Terracotta looks handsome and breathes well, but it dries quickly and can crack in a hard frost. Glazed ceramic and frost-proof stoneware hold moisture for longer. On stone flags, lift every pot onto feet so water drains freely and doesn't stain the paving.

• Compost: a soil-based mix for long-term pots, a lighter multipurpose blend for annuals and herbs.
• Feeding: slow-release granules at planting, then a liquid tomato feed every fortnight from June.
• Watering: a saucer or self-watering reservoir for the pots nearest the door, where you will notice them.
• Topping: a layer of gravel or grit to slow evaporation and keep cats and squirrels off.
• Grouping: cluster pots in threes and fives. A crowd of plants holds humidity and looks far fuller than the same plants spaced apart.

Climbers: Borrow Height You Don't Have

Floor space is precious, so send plants upwards. Fix trellis, tension wire or a slim metal obelisk to the wall and grow into it. On older stone or brick, screw eye hooks into the mortar joints rather than the stone itself, and leave a gap of a few centimetres between the support and the wall so air can move behind the foliage.

Star jasmine is the reliable choice for a warm, sheltered wall, glossy all year with creamy, deeply scented flowers in midsummer. Honeysuckle suits a shadier corner and fills the yard with scent at dusk. Clematis offers the longest season, with early varieties flowering in late spring and the larger, darker types taking over in high summer. For quick cover in a single season, sweet peas up a wigwam of canes will not let you down and give you cut flowers for the kitchen.

Keep climbers tied in loosely as they grow, and prune after flowering rather than in spring, so you are not cutting away the wood that would have carried the buds.

Furniture That Folds, Stacks and Disappears

In a tight yard, furniture has to behave like a guest: welcome when it's needed, invisible when it isn't. A bistro table with two folding chairs takes up under a metre of floor when set out, and almost nothing when folded flat against the wall.

Look for powder-coated aluminium or teak, both of which shrug off damp. A wall-mounted drop-leaf table is a clever solution for a passage barely wide enough to walk down. A storage bench does two jobs at once, hiding cushions, secateurs and the watering can while giving you somewhere to sit. If you have a shed or space under the stairs, choose furniture that folds as a set, so it goes away in one trip.

Planting for Scent, Shade and Slow Mornings

Put scent where you sit. A pot of lavender beside the table, rosemary trained against a warm wall and a small bay tree by the door will do more for the atmosphere than any amount of bedding colour. Herbs earn their keep in the kitchen, and mint, kept firmly in its own pot, saves a walk to the shop.

For shadier yards, hostas, ferns and hardy geraniums will flourish where roses sulk. Where sun lingers, choose a repeat-flowering rose in a deep pot, or a compact dahlia for colour right through to October. Add one or two tall, architectural plants, a phormium or a standard bay, to give the group a centre.

A Guest's Guide: Getting the Best from a Durham Summer Morning

If you are staying in one of the city's boutique guesthouses, ask your host which way the yard faces, because it changes how you use the day. An east-facing courtyard is for early coffee, still air and birdsong before the streets wake. A west-facing one saves its best hour for the evening, when the heat has gone out of the sun and the walls hold the warmth.

Either way, make the most of the early hours. Fill a jug, take a book, and leave the phone inside. If you fancy a walk before breakfast, the river paths below the cathedral are quietest before nine, and the views back up to the towers are worth the short climb. Return for a second pot of coffee in your own small green room, and you will have found the rhythm that makes a summer stay in Durham feel unhurried.