Make the most of the summer sun with an ‘outdoor living room’

We might be, of course – global warming is palpably changing our climate – but some people also seem to be trying to improve our weather simply by force of will. They wear sunglasses whenever there’s a break in the cloud, break out the garden furniture at Easter, and keep their shorts on well into winter.

Pavement cafés were already springing up across the country like mushrooms after rain even before the Covid pandemic, and that trend has been turbocharged by the need for social distancing.

Put simply, this country does not treat summer like it used to, and the change is having an effect on our home lives too. Successive lockdowns not only made socialising outdoors necessary, but also stopped people from spending money on trips, leaving them with more disposable income to use on improving their home and garden.

As a result, sales of fire-bowls, chimineas and garden furniture all saw sharp upturns as ever more people brought the indoors outdoors and made their seating arrangements as comfortable as possible.

Even though the lockdowns are over, the trend for outdoor living looks set to continue. Now that so many of us have (re-)discovered that life under the sun and stars can be enjoyable even in these latitudes, there looks to be no going back. If you count yourself among the converts, one or all of the following properties, which all have what might be termed “outdoor living rooms”, might be your dream home.

Just south-west of Harrogate, Bark Mill Cottage is a fabulous family home set in three acres. It has a huge master suite with dressing room and en suite bathroom, plus three other bedrooms and three bath- or shower-rooms. Downstairs, there’s a large breakfast kitchen, utility room, office (or fifth bedroom), open-plan sitting and dining room, cinema room and garden room. Outside, there’s a triple garage, summer-
house and barbecue area with a 10-seat electrically heated garden hut and remote-control retractable sun cover with lighting for evening use.

At Kirk Deighton, north of Wetherby, Glebe Cottage is a stone-built three-bed cottage with planning permission for a first-floor side and rear extension. It currently has an open-plan kitchen, dining room and sitting room, plus a barn with pool room and bar room. There are also two sheds and a lawned garden overlooking fields.

Finally, on the other side of Wetherby, 1 Hollybush Green is an extended, detached family home in Collingham that is offered to the open market for the first time in over 32 years.

It has a master suite with en suite dressing room and bathroom, plus three other bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, utility room (with dog shower), dining room, snug and living room, plus an annexe currently used as a yoga studio.

Outside, there are gardens with electric car charging point and CCTV security system.