My friends thought I had AC in my home during the heatwave, but it was actually these 6 features that kept it cool

Green timber patio doors with black handles and established planting.

On heatwave days in the UK, I’m never more thankful for my higgeldy-piddeldy mish-mash of a house. Somehow, between the 1700s stone cottage, the single-storey ‘70s extension and our own renovations over the last few years, we have created a space that is ideal for summer weather.

Despite the warm - to put it mildly - days over the last few weeks, the interior of our house always stayed at a fairly pleasant temperature thanks to a few architectural, interior and landscaping design elements. We had a BBQ when it was 37ºC outside and our guests were adamant we were hiding an AC unit somewhere, but really, it was just a simple pillar fan pushing cool air around.