There are quite frequent Great Escapes from the surrounding fields where my family lives. Runaway sheep graze the verges and if they see a route to some lush garden grass, they will flock through it.

A breach in the fence or a gate left open means we will awake to baas outside the window, as the woolly visitors chomp my flowerbeds.

The local farmer is a friend, but the relationship does becomesomewhat strained when we have to ask him – again – to round them up, only for him to return the sheep to the same field that couldn't contain them in the first place.

He is aided by four lightning-fast sheepdogs to keep the woolly-minded creatures moving in the right direction. It is an impressive sight and the odd tourist has been known to whip out a phone and film this age-old Highland sheep-gathering.

The results are usually not what they expect – the farmer is from Essex and the language he uses to work his dogs is more “colourful” than would suit family viewing.

So the odd sheep we can deal with, I’ve even had to wrangle a blind ram out of our kitchen late one night, but our patch of green space has also fallen victim to visitations of herds of cows – who will not only ruin a lawn, but pull whole shrubs and young trees up by their roots.

Our crab apple tree has been bitten down to a stump, and a thriving buddleia was utterly flattened the last time a wandering coo broke in.

Cows can also present a danger, being stubborn creatures – you could say bullish – and much less likely to go quietly than their ovine cousins. If I can’t locate the farmer, my cowherding is just beeping the horn at them from the safety of the car.

We used to have to contend with deer damage, but the noise and scent of a dog has proved a good deterrent.

Badgers, pine martins and foxes don’t seem similarly chastened and present a threat to our hens. But the chooks themselves do a lot of damage to the garden, scratching out dust baths in veg patches, stripping fruit bushes at the moment of perfect ripeness, and interfering when any digging is to be done, in the hope of some uncovered worms or grubs.

It is a constant battle to tame any part of the garden without some critter or other immediately eating it, digging it up or sitting on it.

It is enough to make one give up, and go down the rewilding route, but I know that, in our case, that would only leave us with a large patch of rashes, nettles and docks to behold.

And as well as my enjoyment of gardening and the pleasure in relaxing outside, I’m also aware of the monetary value involved. In terms of home improvement investments, landscaping gives by far the best returns. Website TradeBase calculates that for a £300,000 house, an average landscape upgrade costing £12K would provide an impressive added value of £36K –a much better return than a loft conversion or instating a home office.

But even if I had a £12K budget, the current cost of installing a truly beast-proof fence will leave little in the pot for my desired specimen trees, exotic plants and beautiful blooms – no matter how well protected.

- Kirsty McLuckie is property editor at The Scotsman

Kirsty McLuckie: Bovine bother ruins our bucolic bliss