Regardless of how big or small your garden is, most outdoor spaces have the potential to become a setting for entertaining, even if it’s just an intimate little gathering.
Now that summer’s here, it’s a great time to start thinking of ways to spruce up your garden for al fresco socialising.
Here are a few ideas that we’ve put together to add a social vibe to your outside space.
Include a BBQ
If you want to enjoy alfresco dining properly during the summer, then a barbecue is a must. If you’re having guests over, it’s nice to all be together outside for the experience and a simple BBQ is the perfect way to enhance your outdoor entertaining space.
With so many to choose from, such as natural gas, electric, portable and charcoal grills, you’ll be sure to find the perfect BBQ to compliment your garden and budget.
Add a pizza oven
Bring the taste of Italy to your garden with a pizza oven. A wood-fired pizza oven is ideal to create the most authentic Neapolitan-style pizza, complete with leopard-print crusts. Wood-fired ovens are easy to maintain because you just continually feed in wood to keep it at an even temperature as you cook your pizzas.
Create an outside kitchen
If cooking outside with all the essentials at your fingertips is your idea of domestic bliss, then you could even go the extra mile and consider building a full outdoor kitchen to create that wow-factor in your outside dining area.
Buy or build a fire pit
Fire pits are the ultimate focal point in constructing an alfresco entertaining space, by creating an irresistibly ambient glow for a cosy evening outdoors.
Fire pits are affordable, take up little room and provide the perfect place for an at-home date night or gathering around the fire with friends. Kits or materials for fire pits are available at some DIY stores and you should be able to build a simple fire pit in a weekend.
After the summer sun has gone down, there’s no excuse to not sit outside when you can sit next to those toasty flames right into the night.
Create a garden bar
More places may be starting to open, but not all of us feel ready to head out to public spaces just yet. One solution to fill the pub gap without stepping too far outside your home is to create your very own drinking and dining area in the back garden.
If you’re missing out on sitting at a bar and ordering a cold beer and some snacks, a garden bar is the ideal solution. Depending on the size of your outdoor space, you could opt to transform your garden shed, go for a simple drop down bar suspended from the wall, repurpose a bench or even convert part of your garage.
Build a garden cinema
There’s no better end to a warm summer’s day than relaxing with a film.
Start by making sure you use ground that’s dry and sheltered from the wind, add a projector, connect a video source (such as a laptop or Apple TV box), connect a speaker through your projector, and add a screen (by pegging a white sheet to your washing line or sew pieces of blackout lining together and attach to the garden wall or fence.
Don’t forget to bring out cushions and throws to make the space comfy and add some fairy lights to decorate the space.
Hint: try to avoid building your cinema in a spot where streetlights or bright indoor lights might reflect against the screen.
