'Garden had been a dumping ground'

Pippa Thompson is a 31-year-old mature law student who decided to spend £7,000 of her hard-earned savings on a garden revamp. "I decided I would sooner have the enjoyment of the garden and any potential added value to the property than risk it in the stock market," she says.

"The garden had been used as a dumping ground by the previous owners, but it has five sycamore trees. I got four landscape gardeners to tender for the contract and it took only eight days to complete."

The house is a typical south London terrace with an L-shaped garden. "There was a particularly nasty concrete return at the side, which is now gravel with a winding York stone slab path, so I can go out in bare feet," Thompson says. "It already had two brick steps up to another level, which I have kept."

The main garden sports a 14ft circular lawn surrounded by raised brick beds, and a deck with a table, chairs and a hammock at the back of the garden - all very covetable and attractive to thieves. There are also two metal sculptures made from recycled oil drums, and an antique stone pot.

"I am lucky," says Pippa. "This is a terraced house with no side entrance, so it is very private."

But Thompson has taken the sensible course of specifically insuring the garden and its furniture for virtually the full cost. "I bought a package policy from More Than [from Royal & SunAlliance] and added extra cover for the garden," she says.