Spring is the best time of year to sell a family home, and gardens are a big part of why.

Not all money spent on a home comes back when you sell. Some improvements consistently produce a return above their cost. Others, despite feeling significant when you are living through them, make little difference to what a buyer is prepared to offer.

Most streets have a history if you look hard enough. Stonyhurst Crescent in Culcheth has one that is genuinely remarkable. The homes that buyers compete for today, the large semi-detached Victorian properties with thick walls and generous proportions that sit along the crescent's distinctive oval layout, were not built as family homes at all.

Price growth across Culcheth as a whole has been well documented. The overall average sold price across the village is up 13% year on year according to Rightmove's Land Registry data. But averages only tell part of the story.