Garden Lanterns for a Softer Light
Whilst it’s always practical to have some form of electric or solar lighting in the garden, I do like the soft light cast by garden lanterns.
The weather is starting to warm up here, (at least on some days) and we’ve been slowly getting the potager ready for this year’s vegetables. I of course have been daydreaming about the new garden eating area we are making by the bread oven, which then led me to thinking about lighting.
When it’s finished, we will actually have two areas. A smaller area undercover with seating and a table just for two and then a larger area around the corner for entertaining that leads onto the main garden. The first space is under the roof of the bread oven. We didn’t realise how we could utilise it until we removed the dilapidated rabbit hatches, but as we pulled the old wood out the idea just seemed to materialise with it.
In the mornings it’s blazingly bright with sunshine, but it faces east so is quite dark as the sun goes down. I’m imaging that something like this black lantern from Dobbies surrounded by a few potted plants will give just the right light to banish the gloom. The turquoise head is a great contrast too.
The larger area mainly faces south, but one end is towards the west and so this space has all the evening sunshine too. Here I’m inspired by the long evenings we’ve spent with our neighbours, as the sun goes down, the candles come out. Small ones, large ones, ones encased in glass, ones in bamboo like the garden lanterns from Broste Copenhagen above, all adding to the ambience. The picture of the decorative tea light lanterns from The Contemporary Home on the wooden table instantly made me long for summer.
Well I suppose I’d better get back to digging, otherwise we’ll never get it ready in time for this summer.
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