Enjoy an al fresco summer this year

More and more we head out into the garden to spend quality time with family and friends.

Our gardens have become an extension of our indoor living and our homes and we have more choice than ever before on ways to make our gardens look great.

A beautiful summer garden needs a choice of comfortable sitting areas in the most scenic spots for you to relax, soak up the sun, enjoy al fresco dining and entertain friends at different times of the day.

A timber deck, which can be accessed directly from the house by patio doors, is especially useful for extending the living space outdoors and also gives the illusion of a larger home but without shelling out a massive amount of money. Top tip: While planning, note that deck boards are best placed at right angles to your house so that they will draw the eye into the garden beyond.

If the garden is narrow, though, you might prefer to lay them parallel to the wall to give it a feeling of width.

Be on trend this summer and invest in a comfy outdoor sofa for your chill-out space.

Buying one of these means that you can enjoy sitting outdoors even on one of this season’s cool or drizzly days – although it’s probably a good idea to erect an all-weather canopy or to give the patio a permanent living roof in the event of poor weather.

To complete the outdoor room look, ditch tatty lap fences and replace with decorative timber walls made with slats of wood to give the feeling of warmth. Top tip: Take the indoors out by investing in garden art and consider cleverly using mirrors to give hints of what lies beyond.

Reflecting beautiful areas of the garden also provides movement and interest. Or why not reflect images of the ever-changing sky?

Create a romantic ambience in the garden by adding soft, subtle lighting. This can be anything from mounted spotlights, solar lanterns, tabletop candles, chandeliers hung from overhead beams wrapped with greenery and fragrant flowers to strings of ornamental lights and tiki torches in your pots and borders. Top tip: Burn citronella candles around the deck, patio, or in any other seating areas.

Mosquitoes cannot stand the smell and will stay away from the smoke Catnip is also a useful deterrent, so plant some at arm’s length and grab a leaf to rub on your arms and legs to stop the bugs biting.

For the ultimate in style, it’s hard to beat the draw of a living fire, so to make your patio more alluring after dark, invest in a fireplace, fire basket or metal fire bowl on a stand.

Or you could build your own bonfire pit, which can either be sunk in the ground or contained within a brick wall, throwing out light as well as heat. Keep the sitting area small and intimate for a secluded retreat, or go large and open it up for social gatherings. Top tip: Place the fire a safe distance from tall foliage and maybe design it as a recessed pit to keep dangerous stray sparks inbound.

A beautiful summer garden needs a choice of comfortable sitting areas for you to relax

STYLISH Nothing enhances an outdoor space as perfectly as rattan

DINING OUT The summer is a perfect time to eat outdoors