Aside from caring for your plants, different activities can take place in your garden if you are willing to engage in them. One of them is having a good laugh with family and friends over food and drinks.
Imagine it: the sun is set and the warm breeze from your garden blows across your face. You can perceive the sweet fragrance of the flowers in your garden as your spouse makes you laugh with your mouth full of food.
I bet you are already interested in recreating this. For this to happen, you would need an Al Fresco dining area in your garden and it’s not difficult to create one.
You’d want your dining space to be magical and inviting such that you, your family and friends would always want to dine outdoors.
The key to creating such is simple: creativity, personal style and lots of lighting. These combinations will create magic!
“I’m in! But this is too ambiguous, can we have a detailed explanation of how to create our Al Fresco dining area?”, you ask.
Absolutely! Below are a few ways to create an Al Fresco dining area in your British garden.
Get the Perfect Location
Choosing the right location is important for dining al fresco. Look out for places in your garden that have a nice view, you’d want to relish in the good scenery while you eat.
Also, go for spots in your garden that have good shade—-perfect for enjoying cool breeze during sunny days and a good spot for mounting a retractable pergola.
You can fold up the pergola during the warm season and bring it up during the rainy season to protect you from downpours. You don’t need the pergola to protect you from hot weather, the shaded area will do justice to it.
Set up Your Dining Area
Should this go well, you will always want to dine outdoors and if that is the case, you should set up a year-round dining area.
Depending on the size of your garden, choose furniture that is weatherproof and comfy. Add soft cushions to your seats to enhance comfort and a well-designed table cloth on the table with an attractive centrepiece.
Install composite decking and place an outdoor rug on it to create a dining area with a comfortable base to step on.
Drive Insects Away
There’s nothing as annoying as being bothered by flying wasps or bitten by bugs while eating. It could ruin your mood and your appetite—you don’t want that.
After setting up your dining area, spray insecticides around the area, do this often if you plan to dine outdoors regularly.
It’s Lighting or Nothing
You can’t have an outdoor dining area without lighting. How do you enjoy dinner without light? Apart from enhancing your sense of direction, lighting sets the mood for your dining experience. With the stars out in their number and the lights set, they create a warm and cosy atmosphere you’d wish could last forever.
A combination of soft lights like candles and string lights will create this atmosphere for you. If you want bright light, you can go for LED lights or solar lights with a firepit to create warm undertones.
Incorporating a firepit into your dining area can equally be useful during winter to keep you warm while you delight your taste buds.
Pick the Correct Menu
You should be well aware that al fresco dining isn’t like any other and choosing the right food options for it matters.
Don’t opt for food that takes a long time to prepare or can easily mess up the table. Go for a menu that is easy to eat and enjoy outdoors like Greek salad, lobster rolls, grilled chicken, fruits, etc.
This will also enable you to clear the table easily after dinner.
Get Drinks Too
You can’t have a complete al fresco dinner without drinks. You can decide to keep it simple with lemonades or go big and sophisticated with sparkling wine. Either way, make sure you stay hydrated while you dine.
If you have guests over, make sure you have drinks that suit everyone’s preferences.
Soak in the Experience
Now your al fresco dining area is all setup, sit back and enjoy the experience, soak in the view, the soft music playing in the background, and most importantly, enjoy the time spent with your loved ones.
Take memorable and Instagramable pictures you can brag about, and make videos to document funny and cheesy moments that’ll always be dear to your heart.
Conclusion
A permanently set al fresco dining area can be a plus for you. You don’t have to set up the dining area every time you want to dine outdoors. With the above steps, you can now set up a magical dining area in your British garden and enjoy memorable times with family and friends.
