The best fire pits and chimineas for your patio or garden

Having a fire pit in your garden will ensure you can enjoy the outdoors for longer when the sun goes in and, really, who doesn’t enjoy sitting and looking at an open fire?

With the warmer weather finally on its way and the rule of six for outdoor gatherings set to be reinstated from April, we can all enjoy having guests over to our homes again. As inside meets are still verboten, though, we’d suggest investing in a fire pit. But what to choose? There are lots of designs, from a fire bowl to a camping fire pit, and a range of materials available too, including cast iron, steel, clay and stone.

Fire pit safety tips
Before using your garden fire pit, ensure it’s in a safe location and away from any combustible surfaces. Joss Thomas, Founder & Designer at Indigenous, has shared some tips on how to enjoy your fire pit safely.

Make sure that the location is safe and there’s nothing hanging nearby that could catch fire.
Position your outdoor fire pit in the middle of your patio, so you have plenty of room to move around it safely and it’s not too close to combustible surfaces, grass, trees, plants or shrubs.
Make sure that it isn’t too close to your property or sheds/summer houses.
Don’t light the fire pit under a gazebo or other covered area.
Check the wind direction before lighting.
Take fire safety precautions. For example, have a fire extinguisher, fire blanket or at least a bucket of water/sand nearby.
Keep children and animals away if they are unsupervised.
When you have finished with the fire pit, ensure that the fire is completely extinguished. Cover the fire pit with a suitable lid to contain any hot embers and prevent ash from blowing around.
If you have chosen a fire pit that doesn’t have legs or which gets very hot, you may need to protect the surface underneath.
Here, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite chimineas and fire pits (including some garden fire pits with barbecue grills) to help you enjoy your garden for longer this summer.