Lighting the way
Lighting offers so many advantages to garden owners and its use is becoming far more widespread. Illuminating your garden makes a lot of sense in our climate where the use of gardens late into the evening can be a real bonus and, in winter, views into an attractive garden from inside your home bring another dimension to domestic life.
Lighting need not be expensive, especially when you think of the capital cost over the life of the garden scheme. The key to outdoor lighting is good planning on many levels – from what effect you want to achieve to the location of wiring and lights, and your budget.
Uses in the garden
Safety is the first consideration. Lighting is invaluable in emphasising steps, or the interface of paving and water. Using lights on a front path gives guest confidence as they stroll along an unfamiliar walkway and creates a warm welcome. Lighting here may be permanently on, could be switched on when you are expecting guests, or might be controlled by a timer.
Lighting can be enabling. For example, around your barbecue it will make cooking easier, or on a pergola it could encourage you to eat outdoors more often or stay outside for longer. Fundamentally, lighting gives your garden the ‘wow’ factor. Select the positions of your lights carefully to maximise the aesthetic benefits you gain from them.
Choices available
Lighting costs vary enormously, depending on all types of elements. The more sophisticated the scheme, the more complex the switching, and the more robust the construction materials, the greater the cost.
Having a landscape designer draw up a lighting plan for you can be of great benefit if you are on a budget as it ensures that if you are having the lights installed in stages, the cabling can all be laid out ahead of time and therefore not disrupting the garden any further down the track. It will also ensure more bang for your buck as planning is always key in saving money and doing things the right way the first time around.
For more information regarding lighting options feel free to email us at [email protected] and we can discuss putting together a lighting schedule/plan to give your garden that ‘wow’ factor.