A courtyard garden by the sea is one of the great contradictions of British coastal living. You have the light, the air and the sound of the waves, and then you have the salt, the wind and the spray. Twenty square metres of flagstones can feel like a wind tunnel in February and a suntrap in June — often on the same day. The good news is that small, enclosed spaces are the easiest gardens in which to create shelter, and a courtyard that borrows warmth from the walls of a house can grow things a windswept cliff-top plot never could.

Read the wind before you buy a single plant

Spend a fortnight watching your courtyard before you spend a penny on planting. Stand in it during a March gale with a mug of tea and note which corner is being scoured and which is dead calm. In most of the UK the prevailing wind comes from the south-west, so the far corner from the house is usually the harshest, whilst the wall nearest the kitchen door stays a zone or two milder.

Mark the sun as well. A south- or west-facing brick wall will store heat through the afternoon and release it at night, which can buy you weeks of extra growing time. Notice, too, where rain actually reaches: a courtyard can have a dry shadow along the leeward side that stays dusty all summer.

• Test the soil. Coastal plots are often thin, sandy and alkaline over rock, though old fishing-town gardens sometimes sit on imported topsoil.
• Find your warmest pocket. This is where the tender herbs and anything borderline will live.
• Identify the windward edge. That is where your screening and tallest raised bed belong.

Raised beds that work with the wind, not against it

Raised beds are close to essential in a coastal courtyard. They lift plants above the worst of the salt splash, let you control drainage, and give you somewhere to sit. Build them 30–40cm deep for herbs, salads and most perennials, and 45cm if you want carrots, chard or anything with a decent root run.

Choose materials with some weight to them — oak sleepers, reclaimed brick, or rendered block. Heavier beds stay put in a gale and act as thermal mass, warming up during the day and keeping roots cosy at night. Flimsy plastic troughs will be halfway to the neighbour's by November. Line timber beds with a permeable membrane, and avoid overfilling: leave a 5cm lip so watering doesn't cascade onto the paving.

Fill with a free-draining mix — roughly six parts topsoil, three parts compost and one part horticultural grit. Coastal plants rot far more often than they dry out. A generous 45cm capping board gives you a perch for a mug of tea and a place to rest a trug.

Fragrant herbs that shrug off salt

Mediterranean herbs were made for this. Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano and lavender all cope with salt spray, bright reflected light and gritty soil, and they release scent every time you brush past. Plant them in a ribbon along the edge of a path so you catch them on the way to the back door.

• Rosemary for upright structure — a compact cultivar keeps its shape in a small space.
• Thyme for creeping over the edge of a raised bed; variegated forms brighten grey paving.
• Lavender for the hottest corner, clipped after flowering to stop it going woody.
• Bronze fennel for height and a haze of aniseed in late summer.
• Curry plant and cotton lavender for silver foliage that reflects light and deflects wind.

Grow mint in a sunken pot or it will run through the whole bed. Sea thrift, sea kale and samphire are lovely native companions if you want a genuinely coastal palette.

Screening that shelters without creating a wind tunnel

The single biggest mistake in coastal courtyards is putting up a solid fence or wall on the windward side. A solid barrier forces the wind up and over, then dumps it back down as damaging turbulence on the other side. A permeable screen — roughly half open, half closed — filters the wind and calms it, which is what your plants actually need.

• Slatted timber panels, woven willow or hazel hurdles all work well.
• Aim for around 1.5–2m in a courtyard, and never taller than the wall you're working with.
• Leave a small gap at the base so air can pass through rather than eddy around.
• Cover the screen with a climber — jasmine or honeysuckle — for extra filtering and scent.

Behind that screen, plant an evergreen backbone: escallonia, griselinia, olearia, hebe or pittosporum. These will scorch in a bad easterly, so keep a ratio of roughly two-thirds tough evergreens to one-third deciduous, and rinse the leaves with fresh water after a storm. Inside the courtyard, a simple trellis divide can make two rooms out of one, giving you a sheltered dining nook and a brighter working corner.

Floor, light and furniture for a longer season

Surfaces matter more than you'd think. Riven stone, brick and textured porcelain all stay grippy when wet; smooth decking turns lethal in a sea fret. Gravel looks charming but blows about in exposed spots, so keep it to the leeward side or use a resin-bound finish.

For furniture, choose teak, powder-coated metal or anything stackable with a weighted base. Lightweight plastic will take flight. Store cushions indoors, and bring string lights in before the autumn gales rather than after. A wall mirror on the shaded side will bounce light into the darkest corner, and a small bubble fountain gives you the sound of water without the splashing that wrecks paving.

Finally, mulch everything with gravel or bark in spring. It keeps the weeds down, holds moisture in a sun-baked courtyard, and stops the salt splash bouncing straight back onto your herbs. Do that, and a modest patch of paving can feel like a proper seaside garden by June.