Enjoying outdoor lighting all year round.
You can enjoy soft sculptural lighting all year round and autumn/winter is the perfect time to commission an outdoor tree lamp. Your outdoor space will be ready for warmer days when you can enjoy some al fresco dining again.
Lighting your outdoor space
Bespoke outdoor lighting is an investment, not only financially, but also in your own well being. Your outdoor space is unique to you, and lighting is often overlooked in favour of furniture and planting. Your outdoor space can be used year round, and your lighting should enhance your space and make it both beautiful and practical.
Hygge outside
We often use hygge as a way to describe how our lighting makes you feel, and how it can enhance your interior space. Hygge, in brief, is about taking time away from the daily rush to be together with people you care about - or even by yourself - to relax and enjoy life's quieter pleasures. It is commonly referred to for indoor spaces, but the concept works just as well outside. There is nothing better than relaxing at twilight in your garden, listening to the world around you and enjoying your own privacy, taking a moment to soak in your space or spending time with friends and family. Your bespoke lighting can enhance your outdoor space and add atmosphere, as well as giving the 'wow' factor when your guests arrive.
We use colourful IP65 weather proof lamp holders and decorative cable. Our outdoor lighting systems are made just for you, you choose the colours or cable and lamp holders and we put it together into a 'plug and play' system that's easy to install in your garden, wrapping cables around an existing tree or a garden structure such as a pergola. Take that one step further and have us make you a tree lamp for the ultimate wow factor. Each tree is unique to you and designed for your space, you can be assured that no one will have the same lighting as you.
How weather proof is it?
The wiring system is weather proof in that it will withstand wind and rain, but be careful in high winds and storm conditions. The bulbs are made from glass and as such should be treated with care. To maintain a good weather proof seal around the neck of the bulb, we recommend that you leave the bulbs in the lamp holders most of the time. The exception being that if adverse weather is expected - if its the kind of weather that would have you 'batten down the hatches' and put away your garden furniture - then you need to also protect your bulbs, and your fixtures.
Steps to protect your lighting
- In high winds dangling cables have room to move, so we recommend that you remove the bulbs from the lamp holders and tie back the lamp holders to prevent them being swung around. We don't want water getting into an open lampholder, so cover them with a bag or cling film to stop any water getting inside the lamp holder. Before you put bulbs back into your fixture, make sure that the lamp holder is totally dry and free of any debris.
- Tree lamps - once you have found the optimum position for your lamp, we recommend taking steps to keep it from falling by tethering it to a solid surface. This could be by using L shaped brackets to fix the base to the ground, or a strap to a wall behind. We use very heavy oak bases to provide stability for our tree lamps, but sometimes Mother Nature can be fierce, and so to give it a long life free of damage, fixing the lamp to a nearby surface to prevent toppling is the best option.
- If an overnight freeze is expected, treat your bulbs as you would garden plants, cover them or wrap them with bubble wrap or a frost membrane (available in garden centres) particularly if you are using the gradient or Organic Evo bulbs. These bulbs have colours either blown into the glass or reflective coating, and these can be compromised by low temperatures.
Our timber source
Right now we have a great stock of large and heavy oak to use for our bases. The old cider press at Cockington had to be removed in the autumn of 2022 as it was unsafe, and so instead of the oak being sent to be burnt, we took as much as we could - after all, we are all about preserving and reusing timbers, and this oak is perfect for outdoor lamp bases. We use branches from the many acres of parkland at Cockington, with the consent of the head grounds keeper. We find that Rhododendron works best and the branches have lovely twists and turns, but there are many species of tree in the park and when we find something perfect we keep it aside ready for its perfect match. We never cut a living tree, and even with fallen branches we check with the head gardener first. The excellent team of volunteers keep the grounds immaculate and whenever possible, if a tree has to be cut down, they make sure that we have access to the branches before they are chipped or burnt. If you have the perfect branch we can also work with that. We protect the timbers with yacht varnish which should need little maintenance. As the years go by the timbers will soften and silver, blending in to its surroundings and becoming an integral part of the garden.
How to order
Take a look at the Outdoor Lighting page of our site and get in touch to discuss what you'd like to achieve. Send us as many photos of your space as you like - this is great, it helps us with the design, and we can source the perfect branch or make up the perfect plug and play system just for you.