Lighting in the garden

The desire to make more of our gardens means it's increasingly seen as an extension of our home. Perhaps one of the biggest trends in recent years is the concept of the outdoor room, typically the seamless transition from interior to exterior. Today's garden provides valuable extra living space, albeit outdoors. The popularity of bifolding and sliding doors create views onto the garden that further emphasise the need for good garden design and stylish outdoor lighting. So, garden lighting has moved from being desirable to being essential.

The wide range of products available, especially with the advent of LED and compact lighting, has made the installation of garden lighting both practical and affordable. But to take full advantage you have to have something to light! Sounds obvious but you need elements of interest for garden lighting to deliver maximum effect. A garden that has been designed will include some or several of the following elements: water feature, steps, walling, raised beds, focal points, specimen planting, pergolas, interesting hard landscaping. In short, a garden that has been designed will benefit from garden lighting.

At the most basic level, garden lighting extends the time you can spend in the garden and avoids eerily looking out into a dark void. The garden takes on a completely different persona by night and while there will be practicalconsiderations, such as step and pathway lighting, the biggest benefit is the creative opportunities it affords. So, if lighting is on your garden wish-list let us know early on in the design process so we can design with lighting in mind ensuring you can enjoy your garden as much by night as by day.