BUYER’S GUIDE Solar lighting
The garden becomes an outdoor room over the summer and as day starts to fade, well-placed lighting can help you extend the fun long into the night.
Cheap and a breeze to install, solar lighting is a great option. It needs no mains electricity, so there are no messy wires causing trip hazards and with no plug sockets to worry about, you’re free to put lights wherever you like. After the initial outlay, there are also no running costs. Lights turn on automatically at dusk and turn off at dawn, which preserves battery life and makes them maintenance-free. They’re better for garden wildlife than mains-powered lighting, too: as they tend to be dimmer, they’re less likely to confuse bats or wake birds. They also attract fewer insects than mains-powered lights.
In this buyer’s guide,
