Extend the size of your home by utilising your garden

You may have seating already in the garden that needs repositioning, or indeed a full makeover, or be thinking of purchasing some new furniture pieces, so you can more fully enjoy the outdoors this summer. Extend the size of your home by utilising your garden for dining, entertaining or just relaxing in nature. Thinking of your garden as an outdoor room makes it easier to design the space or spaces using similar principles to interior design. Look at the plot’s size and shape, the boundaries, surroundings, and if it is overlooked by neighbours. A garden has a range of purposes, from growing food to developing a private retreat to enhance your wellbeing. Having some comfortable places to sit allows you to really enjoy the atmosphere and be in the moment, whether dining al fresco with friends or just cosying up with a book in a shady nook.

Planting can offset a bench beautifully (Image: Leigh Clapp) Let’s really make time to actually sit and enjoy the gardens we are creating – yes, we see those weeds and there are tasks calling us – but be strong, resist and relax, at least for a while. Your means of escape may be a seat under a tree with the light filtering through the branches, or simply having tea on the patio while reading the paper. Whether on your own or gathering friends and spreading out with benches and chairs comfy with pillows, it’s helpful to give your seating areas some thought. Think about the look you are after, the purpose and practicalities. Will it be temporary furniture for the warmer months and stored inside through winter or a permanent seating area? How weather resistant does the seating need to be? Are you after contemporary or traditional styles? Consider the architecture of your house and ambience of your garden, but ultimately be guided by your own taste and budget. Do you want to have areas to sit in sun and shade and for different times of the day?

A creative idea with help-yourself salad (Image: Leigh Clapp)

Think also how to access the seating areas, the way visitors will be guided to the spaces, how many people do you wish to accommodate, and how to furnish the space. You may want a relaxed, flexible dining space with a large table and plenty of seating with plumped cushions to host a crowd or just an intimate café table and chairs for two. Seating could range from a single chair enveloped with scented flowers or a lazy hammock casually slung between two trees, to a focal point bench drawing you down a path. On the hottest days a shady spot with a pair of comfortable reclining steamer chairs could make a welcome respite. It’s all about making your seating inviting so both you and your guests will use them. The size and amount of privacy provided by enclosing boundaries and planting aids the ambience. Space permitting, try to create both large and small scale seating areas.

Colour coordinate the scene (Image: Leigh Clapp)

Arbours, pergolas, lattices, fences, or taking advantage of existing structures can be utilised to frame an area in an aesthetically and functional way. Drape and entwine them with climbers to soften the look. Consider also the flooring, such as paving, gravel, bricks, decking or lawn, letting your budget and the intended use be your guide. It needs to be practical while attractive to the scene you are creating. Planting will soften the hard edges of your outdoor room, whether a formal or naturalistic style, paired back or colourful, and don’t forget some enticing scents that are enlivened in the summer heat. Think of the mood you’d like to create. Raised beds, groupings of seasonal pots, creepers, climbers and vines offer a wide range of possibilities. Repeated planting gives harmony and continuity, think also of heights, shapes and textures, as well as how the seating areas blend into the surrounding garden as a whole. You can further adorn spaces by installing faux windows and mirrors on walls and fences, or add other decorative detailing, such as Mediterranean tiles and suspended baskets of flowers. Include lighting to extend entertaining into the evening. When visiting gardens keep a look out for their seating areas, which are sure to inspire further ideas to take home. Make the decision to use your garden to its full potential, relax and enjoy some lazy days.

Striking red seating at West Green House (Image: Leigh Clapp)

Gardens to visit

Angels Folly, Fareham, PO16 7QJ
A range of seating areas in rooms
Open through the NGS on August 10, 4.30-9.30pm
Admission £6
ngs.org.uk

Wheatley House, Kingsley, GU35 9PA
Elegant seating amongst colour-themed borders
Open through the NGS on August 18, 1.30-5pm
Admission £6
ngs.org.uk

Bere Mill, Whitchurch, RG28 7NH
Rustic seating to enjoy the ambience of the river setting
Open through the NGS on August 26, 12-5pm
Admission £8
ngs.org.uk

Bumpers, Long Sutton, RG29 1SJ
Seating through country garden rooms
Open through the NGS on September 8, 2-5pm
Admission £5
ngs.org.uk

Fairbank, Alton, GU34 4BU
Seating for vistas including honeysuckle-clad arbour
Visits by arrangement until September for groups up to 30
Admission £5

West Green House Garden, Hartley Wintney, RG27 8JB
Colourful seating with imaginative planting
Open Wednesday through Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday until October 27, 11am-4.30pm
Admission £10, Children £5, car parking £4 or free to National Trust members
westgreenhouse.co.uk