Hi and welcome to GoY. it could be one of several plants.
is the rest of the garden well planted or is it neglected by the previuos owners. if its neglected it could be a 'weed' and digging it out or spraying with glyphosate weedkiller would get rid of it. if the garden is well maintained it could be something like Asarum europaeum look under the leaves does it have greenish purple/brown flowers? if its that it is a very good ground cover plant. again weedkiller will sort it out.

Hi, and welcome from me too, I agree with Seaburngirl, if the flower bottom left is on this plant, then Asarum europaeum, Derek.

My first thought when I saw that flower was Viola odorata, the wild species, not one of the improved varieties. I'll admit that I have never seen an Asarum in person. If a Viola, weed killer will soon sort it out, too.

It could be Petasites fragrans, Winter Heliotrope, which has pinkish flowers in January. It's one of those plants looking for world domination!

Good suggestion - I saw a large stand of this on a verge yesterday. The flowers of this are like groups of very small thistle flowers and are a pale dirtyish pink. They smell rather sweet. They stand up well above the leaves. (The ones I saw weren't flowering,they may have finished)

I've never seen the Asarum, it is very rare in Britain though there are some in Ireland. The flowers are more like dainty little bells hanging from the stem and don't stand up far above the leaves.

the Asarum is sold in some garden centres. I bought it a few years back but it never really established.

Doesn't sound as though it would spread like that then. Its perhaps a matter of wait and see what the flowers are like.

Comparing the foliage venation closely, my vote is with Winter Heliotrope, now, though some kind of Asarum is still a possibility.