Aluminium is a superb material for an outdoor structure, and it is not right for every garden. A cottage with a cottage garden, a brick farmhouse, a planting scheme built around climbers: these often want timber, and no amount of clever powder coating will change that.
So on 24 June we added a Timber Collection, and we are particularly pleased about where it comes from. These structures are made here in Leicestershire, the county we work from.
Why Local Matters
Our family have farmed in this part of Leicestershire for many generations. Grow up on a farm and you grow up around timber: gates, barns, fence posts, and the knowledge of what lasts outdoors and what does not. So there is some satisfaction in offering wooden structures made in the same county. It is practical as well. A short supply line means fewer miles on the road and quicker answers when you have a question about a size or a fixing.
The timber is Northern European redwood, treated to stand up to the weather, with the warmth and grain that make a wooden structure feel as though it has always been part of the garden.
More Styles Than You Might Expect
The surprise, when we first went through the range, was the breadth of it. There are timber pergolas in several characters. The box pergola is square-lined and clean. The garden pergola has sculpted ends to its roof beams for a softer, more traditional look. The premium models are heavier in section, with pedestal panels at the foot of each post that give the structure real visual weight.
Most are offered both wall mounted and freestanding, and several come in fifty-one sizes. If none of those is right, custom sizes can be made, so the structure is matched to the space and not the other way round. Beyond pergolas there are timber verandas, carports with either a polycarbonate or a felt shingle roof, gazebos, and a covered porch with a slate tile roof for the front door.
The Decking Base Option
One detail worth knowing about is that many of the pergolas and verandas can be supplied with their own integrated decking base. If the ground where you want the structure is lawn, or uneven, or simply not somewhere you want to pour concrete, the base and the structure arrive as one design. It makes a seating area out of a corner of the garden that had no purpose before. It is also a natural home for the things that suit timber best. A wood-fired oven such as the Igneus Bambino looks more at home beside a redwood pergola than it ever does against glass, and a hanging egg chair on its own stand turns the far end into the best seat in the garden.
Timber or Aluminium?
People ask us which is better, and the honest answer is that they do different things. Timber is the natural choice for an open pergola you want to grow a rose or a vine over, or for a structure that should sit quietly in a traditional garden. It asks for a little care over the years in return.
Aluminium is the choice when you want a glazed, weathertight roof, a wide span on few posts, or sliding glass doors. A model such as the Bosco will give you a dry, bright space against the house with almost no upkeep, and a louvred Pinela Delight gives you a roof that opens and closes.
Many gardens have room for both: glass and aluminium against the house, timber further down the garden. Tell us what your house is built of and how you picture using the space, and we will give you a straight opinion on which way to go.
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