The 9 greatest backyard chairs, loungers and day beds for summer time 2024

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, informed by gardening editors here at The Telegraph. 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:

What are the best garden chairs for 2024? At a glance:

• Best garden chair overall – La Redoute Theodore Adirondack-Style Garden Armchair
• Best garden table and chairs – Habitat Zeno
• Best reclining garden chair – John Lewis Lafuma Air Comfort Futura
• Best hanging egg chair – Cox & Cox Indoor Outdoor Double Hanging Chair
• Best rattan garden lounger – OKA Cabrera chair

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, fire pits and pizza ovens next.

The best garden chairs

1. La Redoute Theodore Adirondack-Style Garden Armchair

£220, La Redoute

Best garden chair, 10/10

We like: perfect combination of looks, quality and relaxation

French online retailer La Redoute has a reputation for chic design, usually at a price, but this lovely lounge chair with a matching footstool (available to buy separately) in acacia wood is regularly discounted. It wins our top spot because you can’t look at it without imagining blissful late afternoons dozing in dappled sunlight to the sound of birdsong, bumblebees and the distant tolling of church bells while the children happily… sorry, where were we? 

The chair reclines into three positions and features a curved backrest, low seat and wide arms. The untreated wood means it’s suitable for painting, if you so desire.

2. Habitat Zeno folding four seater patio set

£385, Becknit

Best garden table and chairs, 9/10

We like: summery looks and folding functionality

Like the La Redoute set above, this light table and four-chair set in acacia wood is certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) for sustainability. But we’re drawn to its practicality: the table folds down into a sideboard when not in use, with a storage shelf on the bottom and wheels at one end for trundling it back into the conservatory when the rain clouds gather. 

3. Ariana two-person mahogany solid wood porch swing

£355.99, Wayfair

Best garden swing chair, 9/10

We like: simple, solid design should suit any garden

This classic self-assembly porch swing from American homewares giant Wayfair isn’t made of teak but decay-resistant red meranti, often used for decking, treated with teak oil. It’s just about wide enough for two people, although you’d have to be close friends. (Need help with the assembly? Check our our guide to the best cordless drills and impact drivers.)

4. Lafuma Air Comfort Futura 

£299.99, John Lewis

Best reclining garden chair, 9/10

We like: really takes reclining seriously

All this padded recliner from John Lewis lacks is a ‘do not disturb’ sign to make it the full garden dozing package. When fully reclined, it positions your legs slightly above your heart like a proper daybed. ‘Air comfort’ refers to the soft, quick drying three-layer padding which makes it twice as costly as the basic reclining chairs. John Lewis’s range of rattan furniture is also well worth checking out.

5. OKA Cabrera chair

£450, Oka

Best garden lounger, 9/10

We like: five-star hotel poolside vibe

Oka are at the high end price-wise but there’s definitely a five-star feel to this mid century chair, named after an unspoilt Balearic island. The lumbar cushion is fibre-filled, the base cushion is foam-filled and it looks equally good without them: the poly rattan weave beneath has a distinctly tropical look.

6. Indoor Outdoor Double Hanging Chair

£795, Cox & Cox

Best hanging egg chair, 9/10

We like: it may be big, but it’s bright and airy

Very popular with Telegraph writers but somewhat pricey, Cox & Cox’s country home aesthetic has now embraced the egg chair trend. Their double-sized Indoor Outdoor Hanging Chair with a grey metal frame, faux wicker chair and cream tie-on headrest and seat cushions makes it perfect for occasional use on the four days of sunshine allotted to the British summer.

8. Westwell Corner Sofa Set

£1349, Dunelm

Best garden sofa, 8/10

We like: looks pretty much exactly like an indoor sofa

Stalwarts of affordable homeware Dunelm are making a lot of our favourite garden furniture at the moment. This outdoor sofa, inspired by relaxed island life, turns an outside space into an extension of your living room. 

9. Karama day bed

£1695, Oka

Best garden day bed, 8/10

We like: billowing curtains straight out of a safari fantasy

Anything with a canopy can call itself a daybed, but Oka deserve their second entry in our guide for the sheer exuberant summeriness of this 6ft 5in rattan chaise longue with off-white polyester curtains that can be fixed down for shade, rolled up to let the sun in or left floating in the breeze for that perfect moment as dandelion clocks lazily swim in a hazy shaft of golden sunlight and the delicate scent of jasmine… uh-oh, we’re off again… 

What is the best kind of garden furniture?

Ask five Telegraph garden experts, get five different opinions

Val Bourne loves a simple wooden bench

My garden furniture is rather like me, robust and weatherproof, because my garden sits on the Cotswold plateau and gets the full force of the south-westerlies coming up the Bristol Channel.  Light metal or rattan furniture would take off and end up in Bourton on the Water. So my furniture is teak. I’ve had it for so long I can’t remember where I got it from. Gaze Burvill do wonderful wooden pieces – they’re the Rolls Royce of garden furniture – but I can’t afford them!

One rugged wooden bench hugs the south-facing wall, underneath a winter-flowering clematis. In early spring huge bumblebees forage on the pallid-green flowers and then there’s always a bird’s nest above my head by early summer, so I end up ducking and diving.

That seat gets too hot by midsummer, so there’s a plain wooden table and chairs by the summerhouse and that allows me to watch spotted flycatchers looping the loop above my low-slung cottage roof. They are very active at four in the afternoon – my favourite tea-drinking time.

I have extra visitor chairs and they include a bright-green folding metal table and chairs used at the 2012 Olympics. I feel very patriotic every time I get them out. Another wooden bench gives a view along the stone terrace in front of the cottage, because that area is a butterfly magnet. 

My seats get used throughout the year, because I wrap up warm in bright winter days and sip mint tea or hot chocolate. I hate being indoors – and I try to have fragrant plants throughout the year, from lily-scented sarcococca to pelargoniums with rose-scented foliage. The ultimate is a pot of lemon verbena, as strokable as my cat Frank. I like to sit and stare from my various perches and I do use cushions – a necessity with wooden furniture. 

Sarah Rodrigues loves upcycling garden furniture

I have a thing for … well, many people would call it tat: I prefer to call it treasure. Alluring objects I’ve picked up on my travels; curios from boot-sales; loads of greenery planted in reclaimed or upcycled vessels; a mishmash of clashing prints, textures and colours. The simple elegance of the outdoor furniture range at Cox & Cox is the perfect backdrop to this: it’s sturdy and stylish, while being a beautifully blank, timeless canvas for all the riotousness of my ever-changing paraphernalia.

Compared to some high street brands, the prices are undeniably steep, but the timelessness of the pieces, combined with the attention to detail and construction, really does make them, in my opinion, worth the investment – especially for those who have the means to be able to spend time in the garden year-round.

This year, I have my eye on the Woven Rope Standing Egg chair. I love the cocooning nature of the design and can just imagine being curled up in its cosy embrace with a book and an Aperol Spritz as the evenings get longer.

Tom Brown loves teak or lighter woods

Having somewhere comfortable to sit and relax in a garden is very important to me and I love the feel and appearance of wooden furniture. Good quality wooden furniture will last for years if given a little love each spring with an annual clean, having protected it from the worst of the wet, winter weather. 

Teak furniture is robust, hard wearing and very solid. I’ve brought from Cyan before who use recycled teak, which sits more comfortably from an ethical standpoint. Have a look at their Capri Planter’s Chair and picture yourself with a cold one!

But as a gardener, over the years I have lugged many a bench and table around gardens and as a result, I would highly recommend that you buy furniture that is lightweight and easy to move around whether you’re cutting the grass or preparing for a few drinks with friends. Rymans’ light redwood Charles Taylor four-seater is easy to move around your garden to follow or shelter from the sun.

Cinead McTernan loves her synthetic rattan sofa

I’ve managed to squeeze a modular corner sofa into my small city garden, and it’s absolutely transformed how much we use our outdoor space. I bought it to fit a particularly small spot, but it’s turned out to be a brilliant style of garden furniture because it’s so versatile, either as a lounger to sprawl out on, or separated as individual chairs when friends pop around. 

I went for synthetic polyethylene rattan, more out of necessity than choice as there weren’t many options available in the size I was after, but I would definitely buy other furniture in this material because it’s so easy to look after  – a quick blast with a pressure washer at the start of the season and you’re ready to go – as well as being durable, lightweight and eco-friendly. You can buy natural rattan, which does look more beautiful, but isn’t as hard wearing and fades in the sunlight. I bought my set from alice’s garden.co.uk, but if space wasn’t an issue, I’d go for something like Cox & Cox’s Hampton Corner Set.

Jan Masters loves a bohemian vibe – preferably low-maintenance

As gardens are increasingly considered outdoor living spaces, it’s no surprise garden furniture has been taking its design cues from interiors. But unless you have a clean lined, architectural garden, I find pieces such as those angular, modular corner units too dominating in a natural setting. They also remind me of hotel hang-outs. 

If, like me, your planting schemes favour flowers that scramble over walls and spill and billow over old pots, my preference is for furniture that’s rustic, reclaimed or vintage in style. For years, I’ve had a Lloyd Loom-esque set of table and chairs made from poly rattan, but I’m on the hunt for replacements. Given my London garden is small, I’m honing in on pieces that you can see through to the beds beyond. Something that suggests there is space to breathe.

I also want furniture that can stand up to the elements. Storing mountains of cushion pads or pulling on the covers as if rain has stopped play at Wimbledon just becomes a bore and a chore. I want something that, if anything, looks better when it gains patina. 

In my quest for a vintage look, I’m particularly seeking out pieces that either hail from India or have a bohemian vibe. One of my favourite garden centres is the Burford Garden Company in the Cotswolds and I’m loving its Bobbin Indian benches and chairs, which come in subdued shades of blue, green, cream and dusky rose. As I have a collection of antique kantha throws, this choice would sit very nicely. The other plus point is that they’re made from the sustainable, densely grained, semi-hardwood of the mango tree. 

Another vintage look I’m flirting with is ‘French café meets industrial’, especially if the pieces are painted in that classic pistachio green. I prefer pieces that are authentically old and a bit knocked about and I’m perfectly happy if the chairs don’t match. Wire and wrought iron are both possible options although not if they’re too fussy – if you need more than four chairs, the patterning can fight the eye for attention. The search has become a pleasant evening pastime, scanning sites for vintage finds. Etsy is one, but I’m currently tuned into Vinterior (vinterior.co).

Once I find my new furniture, I’ll set it under our large acer, which provides plenty of shade. As the breeze blows through the leaves, it’s like sitting under nature’s umbrella, the perfect place to take a comfortable seat, sip a Sauvignon and drink in my horticultural handiwork. 

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