How to throw a great summer BBQ

Yay, spring is finally here!

This means warmer weather, longer evenings, more sociable friends, and a bunch of BBQs!

We had a fab Swedish style midsummer BBQ last summer, and I thought I'd tell you all about it in order to inspire you for this year's season.

The first thing to think about when throwing a great BBQ is obviously the food. For our midsummer party last year I as a host decided to buy all the meat, but since we were so many people at the BBQ (about 12 people) we decided that everyone was to bring a side of some kind - to match the Swedish midsummer theme of course. We ended up with a great variety of food, including all sorts of meat, potato salad. pasta salad, french bread and cheeses, as well as a mixed salad and lots of BBQ dips (tzatziki, mango sauce... you name it!)

In line with the theme I had also bult a mini midsummer pole out of green leaves and wild flowers. Now what is this, you may ask?

Oh, where to start? It's an ancient Swedish tradition... a pagan thing. It's supposed to symbolise fertility, and you're supposed to dance around the pole whilst singing silly songs. Now, we didn't actually do that, but it was still a nice feature for the garden.

I don't think Melba was too impressed with the midsummer pole, or that I had lots of rowdy friends around...

Another little feature for the garden was my newly planted herbs, which we used for both the food and the drinks. A few weeks before the BBQ I had bought some little dill, chives, thyme and mint plants. We used the dill and chives for the potato and pasta salads, and guess what we used the mint for!

Along with some fresh lime, strawberries and brown sugar we were able to use the mint leaves for both Pimms and Mojito drinks. Yum! Can't get more summery than that!

The best thing about summer BBQs - except for the amazing company of course - its that it's warm enough to stay outside in the garden all evening.

We had propped the garden with plenty of garden furniture so that we could all enjoy the time outdoors - both a big round table and chairs a la this style from Jamie Oliver, and also a couple of lounge chairs. Once it got dark we lit lots of candles, as well as our oil burners, which resultet in a really lovely and cosy atmosphere.

Dessert was Swedish strawberry cake, of course!

What makes yours a great BBQ, and what tips and advice do you have to throw a great summer garden party?

DIY garden furniture inspiration

I know it’s the middle of the winter with snow on the ground in parts of the UK, but I can’t help but gazing forward to spring!

Springtime is actually the best time of the year here in England, weather wise, so who can blame me for looking forward to this glorious season.

I mean, who doesn’t?!

To cheer myself up in the winter gloom, I’ve had a browse around for some garden furniture inspiration. I would love to challenge myself to do some sort of garden DIY project this year, and I’m thinking simple materials, or even recycled items.

I think the simplest thing to start with is creating furniture by stacking pallets. Recycled pallets have been extremely popular for both outdoor and indoor furniture in the last few years, and people use them for everything from coffee tables to sofas, and even bed frames.

This patio sofa is a prime example of a simple but effective DIY project.

Or how about making yourself a little outdoor bar with the help of two white painted pallets and a few thick stone tiles? Such a simple idea, but oh so creative and stylish! Just make sure you attach it to the wall so that it doesn't fall over!

For a dead simple way of building a garden bench, simply stack blocks of cement and place wooden planks through the wholes. Almost too easy, hey?

The next step up when it comes to the level of difficulty, would maybe be this combined sofa and plant stand made of wooden planks. Even though this is a simple design, it still takes a lot of planning, and probably more work than you think. Sleek and stylish, don’t you think? And very effective!

You can do a lot of creative things with some great flea market finds. I personally adore this multi coloured sofa bench made out of three mismatching antique chairs. If you’re into the shabby chic style you will love this! The only problem, I guess, would be to find chairs of the same height, so although this is a simple idea it will probably take a lot of time when it comes to researching.

For a real challenge it would be amazing to create this birch log garden lounge. Not so much for actually using it (cause it doesn’t look very comfortable), but for its look – isn’t it just stunning? I love raw materials from nature like this.

I think I’ll start with something fairly simple though, and I’ve seen some great how to guides online where you can build your own garden chair. A pretty standard design, with a step by step guide, but why complicate things?