Fiona Leahy on alfresco dining

First, you need durable furniture to dine outdoors. You don’t want to be dragging the table and chairs inside every time it rains. I have some lovely vintage aluminium chairs that sit outside all year round. For comfort, I add super-thick seat pads made of dark green velvet with a pale pink trim from Dedar.

I love the drama of a long, rectangular dining table. For years, I had one in reclaimed wood. I’ve replaced it with something more modern in black aluminium. It looks stunning and is easy to maintain.

Allow around 52cm of dining space for each person. However, there’s a casualness to eating outside, so you don’t need to be strict – it depends on the situation and how formal you are. Sometimes it’s more convivial to invite a few more guests and squeeze them in. If you have a small garden, consider benches that tuck under the table instead of chairs. Benches are also good for large gatherings as they allow space for more people.

I love festoon lights. In fact, they’re a permanent fixture of my garden. They’re strung in a zigzag pattern across my garden and connected to an outdoor dimmer so I can control the mood. I like to dress the table with candles, too, which I put into hurricane lamps to stop the flames blowing out.

People can sometimes be scared of using their linen, crockery or glassware outdoors, but I see my garden as an extension of my home and so always use glass over plastic outside. Come summer, my garden is my dining room.

Keep outdoor dining casual with a block-printed linen tablecloth and napkins, recycled glass and a wicker or a bamboo charger to ground the table. I also like to use a lot of green so that the table feels like it is a part of its natural surroundings.

Make your table feel authentic. Don’t be overly influenced by the ‘hot’ colours of the season. For example, take your cue from what’s growing in your garden. Last year, I hosted a lunch in a garden with lots of blue flowers, so I used a blue and white floral tablecloth to connect the table to the space.

It’s nice to bring elements of your garden onto the table.

Say I’m growing rosemary: I might put a small bunch tied with ribbon on each plate. Last summer I grew dahlias (which I was ecstatic about) and would often put some on the table. Little touches like this make all the difference.

Eating outdoors is like having a decadent

picnic: it’s a good excuse to try a more eccentric approach than you would indoors. Try mismatching crockery or adding antique silverware – I love French or English cutlery. There’s something refreshing and childish about being outside and I like to capture that.