What are the best garden chairs to buy? It’s important to know before the warm days arrive. Well-chosen pieces let you extend your interior design to the garden so that when the sun comes out, you can simply open the doors, fire up the BBQ and start living outside like a true continental. Choose badly, however, and it can become a burden, gradually degrading or taking up space in the garage. How to tell the difference? This guide shows the way. Let’s start with where to buy it.
Online retailers perennially popular with Telegraph readers include Barker & Stonehouse and OKA, co-founded by David Cameron’s mother-in-law Lady Astor. There are also stores which specialise in particular types of garden furniture.
For example, our gardening expert Val Bourne recommends oak furniture specialist Gaze Burvill. Tom Brown loves teak specialist Cyan. Jan Masters prefers the eclecticism of Burford. Cinead McTernan buys from Alice’s Garden and Sarah Rodrigues recommends Cox & Cox. You can read Val, Tom, Jan, Cinead and Sarah’s thoughts on garden furniture at the bottom of this guide. If you’re in more of a hurry, here’s a quick glance at our top five:
At a glance: the best garden chairs
(And if you’re re-outfitting your garden, we’ve recently compiled expert guides to best patio heaters, best lawnmowers and best secateurs.)
What garden furniture can be left outside?
Traditional rattan, made from rattan palm, is not weather-resistant, but the best rattan garden furniture is today made from weather-resistant woven polyethylene (known as poly rattan) and has transformed the look of British gardens.
“Right now the trend is for expanding your living space out into the garden,” says Stuart Isbister of garden furniture specialists The Worm That Turned. “That’s so much more possible now with poly rattan and things like textilene cushioning, which is a lot softer to the touch while also being weather resistant so you can leave it outside.”
There are plenty more options, however. “Teak is a hard wood whose natural oils rise to the surface,” Stuart says, “which makes it perfect for outdoor furniture. It doesn’t rot but does develop a patina. We always advise people to be happy with it going grey. The downside is that it’s heavy.
“Aluminium furniture is very light. A lot of people in cities have balconies, not gardens, and for them aluminium bistro sets are proving very popular – particularly French company Fermob, because of the large range of colours. If you’re in a windy spot, you can go for heavier steel furniture and still have the range of colours.”
“There are newer materials that have come along, like ceramic and HPL – high pressure laminate, quite similar to the marble-effect surfaces you’d see in a kitchen. HPL garden tables are heavy, but look really nice and are often used to tie the outside space into the kitchen or living room design.
“Finally, the latest trend is for rope, which can be woven into or wound around the structure of the furniture to protect from dirt and rain and make it structurally stronger. Furniture made with that tends to be very long-lasting.”
How we chose the best garden furniture
With advice from Stuart and our panel of five Telegraph garden experts, we compared the current ranges from trusted garden furniture retailers, focusing on proven winners and new lines. We selected for build quality, value for money, looks and usability.
If you enjoy sitting in the garden late into the evening, you may want to read our guides to the best patio heaters and fire pits next.
The best garden chairs
1. La Redoute Lounge Chair & Hocker Footstool Garden Furniture Set
Best garden chair, 10/10
We like: perfect combination of looks, quality and relaxation