Wednesday 22 December 2021

Lighting the Garden at Old Swan House


The garden lights now come on automatically based on a movement sensor

I began putting lights in the garden a few years ago, first down the path through the box walk so that people could come and go between the house and the drive without going over the lawn. I was lucky enough to find some beautiful old copper lights at Fickle Pickle and have them 'plumbed in' by the inestimable Brian Gill. They have been completely trouble-free ever since. 

Lighting the garden path 

Later, Brian put in some LED lights down the garden wall and two floods, one at the end in the wildflower garden and the other lighting the end of the orchard, but one had to go out an turn them on in the garage and on the patio, and one rarely took the trouble. 

Now, Rob Allnutt has changed these lights to come on automatically at night with movement sensors, but they will only stay on for about 15 minutes unless one keeps moving.

Solar light on one of the columns in the 'Florentine Garden'

Finally, I have put in some solar lights on the two new columns in the 'Florentine Garden'. The come on automatically as it gets dark and light then columns rather well, but don't last very long in winter as there is so little energy captured by the solar panel.

The lights even light the pond