Garden furniture - best quality?

Beenie

We need to replace our current garden furniture (Allibert table, 6 chairs and a parasol).

This set was bought in 1986 and has been superb quality and comfort. It was very expensive at the time, and considered 'top of the range' but has been real value-for-money.

We've been looking at rattan and wondered if anyone here has this type of furniture and how it lasts/needs maintaining etc.

We've looked at cheapie sets and they feel uncomfortable to us. Also, no one garden centre seems to stock a comprehensive range.

As we don't mind travelling to check out brands, can anyone suggest some manufacturers to us that will last and still look good in 15/20 years?

DirectDebacle

I can't recommend them but this site seems to have the sort of quality you seek. IMO Teak and stainless steel are likely to be the most durable materials.

gmgmgm

We took guidance from some old posts on this forum (use the search) and narrowed the choice down to, a couple of years ago.

• Barlow Tyrie
• Lister teak
• Faraway Furniture
• Indian Ocean

(Cyan advertise hugely, but I *think* are a step beneath these names).

Ended up going with Faraway- looks great, a few years on.

pinkteapot

I wanted good quality garden furniture too, and looked into both teak and rattan.

My issue with teak was the maintenance. I don't like the silvery colour that teak goes over time (I know a lot of people do love it - just not my taste/style), so I would have been re-staining it every couple of years and frankly, that didn't appeal!

When I looked into teak, the shops mentioned by gmgmgm were all recommended ones.

I went with rattan and we love ours. I'm afraid I can't comment on longevity as we only bought our furniture this year, but so far I'm really pleased.

It's incredibly easy to clean. We have lots of bird feeders and the downside is all our furniture gets covered in bird poo. Rattan is very easy to clean with a hot soapy sponge. Even just aiming the hose at it to de-dust it brings it up nicely.

Our table is glass-topped and I was a bit worried that this would get filthy. While it does show the dirt, wiping it over with a near-dry hot sponge is all it needs, and it only take 5 minutes to clean the table-top. We only bother if we've got company coming.

We got this set:
http://www.internetgardener.co.uk/product/garden-furniture-sets/maze-rattan-dallas-sofa-garden-furniture-set/6680

I'm impressed with the quality of Maze Rattan as a manufacturer so far. The set is meant to be waterproof and certainly seems to be. It's been rained on a LOT, and there are no signs at all of any rust. This contrasts with cheap garden recliner chairs etc I've got from places like The Range, which drop orange water after a downpour, showing that the frames are rusting.

As I said, I'm afraid I can't comment on longevity at this stage, but when researching I found comments from people with Maze Rattan furniture saying that they'd had theirs a few years now and after a wash in the spring it looks good as new, and I can't see any reason why this wouldn't be the case.

I think the wood vs rattan issue is largely a matter of personal taste with regards to the look. As I said, for me the deal-breaker was the maintenance required to keep the initial golden-brown colour going with teak.

You mentioned showrooms - I don't know where in the country you are but Internet Gardener, who we bought from, have a large show-room in Nottingham:
http://www.internetgardener.co.uk/showroom

Whichever brand you choose, I'd highly recommend Internet Gardener as a shop. We're not local so haven't visited them in person, but one of the sofas in our set had a fault which meant it couldn't be assembled. They promptly liaised with Maze Rattan and got a replacement to us. I get nervous buying expensive items online in case things like this happen, but their customer service was excellent.