In The Hot Seat

Kick back and relax on contemporary outdoor furniture built to last all year long

Those longed-for sunny summer days come around so rarely that when one finally does appear, it often catches us unprepared, scrambling to dig out the aged (but sadly not in a chicway) garden furniture, kicking ourselves for not yet having bought some cool new replacements.

We can’t really put the blame on Britain’s lack of year-round  sunshine, nor on a general shortage of sufficient outdoor space; most of what’s currently available to buy for the garden is sturdy enough to survive whatever the weather can throw at it (and if it can’t, it’ll have been designed to work well indoors too); and if you only have a small area to play with, there is a wealth of options to suit, some of which might force you to venture out of your furnishing comfort zone – incorporating hanging pieces, for example, to leave the patio clear underneath.