Bedding down in the garden
Why everyone needs a daybed outdoors
When it comes to heatwaves, Britain typically reacts with the rash euphoria of a nation that knows this to be a fleeting state of affairs, and an imperative to absorb what little sunshine is thrown its way, while it can. Hence the annual run on charcoal, gin and ice – and, no doubt, the current halloumi crisis.
But with what some have predicted to be the longest, hottest summer in years on the cards, it seems more of us are investing in even longer-term ways of enjoying the rays. It’s in this context that the garden bed has become the must-have summer style item of 2018. No, not the bed in which you plant your perennials, but one in which you can plant yourself – feet up, book in one hand, negroni in the other – dreaming you’re by a pool in some sunny foreign clime, rather than a patio in the ’shires.
“More so than ever, we Brits are seeing our outdoor space as a true extension of our homes,” says Vicky Angell, outdoor living buyer at John Lewis, where sales of outdoor beds have risen 120per cent in the last two weeks. “The current sunny spell has driven an increased interest from customers to upgrade their gardens to enjoy the longer evenings, investing particularly in daybeds and garden accessories such as outdoor rugs, cushions, throws and lanterns to create the perfect outdoor space for entertaining.”
It is the unadulterated decadence of a full-length daybed, though, that truly evokes memories of Moroccan holidays and lazy days on sun-soaked terraces. Raj Tent Club, which sells and rents out luxury marquees, pavilions, Indian wedding tents and outdoor furnishings, is among those reporting a spike in interest in its metal daybeds, which it attributes to the spell of good weather.
“It’s something we’ve had for years, but the popularity has shot up,” says a spokesman, adding that the boom applies more to daybeds to hire rather than purchase.
John Lewis’s own Leia cosy daybed, crafted from Fsc-certified eucalyptus, retails at £529, but prices elsewhere can climb into the thousands for styles fashioned from rattan, metal or wood. Oka’s offering even comes with wheels.
Charlie Napier, who with his fellow Cornwall-based artist wife created the bespoke Sunbeam Jackie daybed for a client (priced at an eye-watering £15,000), suggests staycations mean we’re spending more time at home, and are keen to make the most of it.
“I think people are taking more interest in their gardens as an extra room,” he says. “The interior has been done and done and done,” he adds, linking our fondness for luxuriating outdoors to the boom in glamping.
But the role of the weather is impossible to ignore: the daybed allows the kind of deep relaxation only possible outdoors when the prospect of a thundercloud breaking overhead doesn’t threaten.
No surprise then that some of them include such locales in their names. Witness the £1,049 maze rattan Tuscany Toronto daybed from Robert Dyas (presumably it’s the Tuscan vibes we’re after here), the Venice rattan garden daybed from Rattan Direct (£599), or the Marrakech daybed set from Direct Outdoor Living (£799.99).
With the lifestyle of any society undoubtedly influenced by the climate in which it exists, perhaps it’s natural to expect we should adapt ours to our changing weather patterns. Countries such as Spain, long accustomed to hot weather, have made the afternoon siesta a fixed part of their routine, and while we’re unlikely to see British office workers downing tools during the week any time soon, the current abundance of sunshine gives us every reason to expect a rise in siesta living in British leisure time.
Sarah Morgan, chairman of the Society of Garden Designers, says: “Nomadic cultures are perhaps some of the most creative and economical in the style of the outdoor bed. The benefits of sleeping outside in the shade, particularly among plants, include lowering the blood pressure, restoring energy and boosting productivity for the rest of the day. A simple hammock strung between two trees is all it need take if room for a permanent daybed is restricted. A whole new perspective is
opened up of the sky, tree canopy and sleeping to birdsong.”
There is also the influence of social media: John Lewis says it is seeing “customers purchasing that one special item that will provide a talking point when entertaining friends, or make their gardens more Instagramworthy”. A quick scroll through #gardendaybeds shows one enterprising soul has even set up a four-poster affair outside.
Meanwhile, the evident popularity of Moroccan design styles – boosted last year by the opening of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech – is only fuelling our desire to throw colour, cushions and patterns at the problem. Just make sure you have enough room to do the dash-and-stash indoors. Sod’s law says that as soon as you’ve achieved the perfect outdoor set-up, the heavens will open.