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Illuminate your outdoor space by choosing the best garden lights.

Garden lighting is often an afterthought, but it’s key to setting the mood and adding a touch of decorative flair and drama to your outdoor space, whatever the size.

Every garden needs a focal point and with well-placed lighting you can accentuate parts of your garden to give it character and ambience, marking out paths and boundaries. For best results, use a combination of different garden lights to highlight texture, depth and drama in walls, fences, steps, patio edges, foliage, trees and water.

Work from the ground up, then add wall lighting and spotlights to create a layered look, but don't over-light. Be sparing with wall designs on a terrace, for example. You can create a better atmosphere using garden lanterns, candles and tealights.

'Don't light everything in sight,' warns Darren Staniforth, technical expert at regulatory body NICEIC (National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting). To help you plan your scheme, Darren suggests highlighting the most attractive features and providing task lighting where you need it, such as over a dining table or close to entrances and exits to different areas of the garden.

Uplighting works well at the far end of the garden, where you can shine light onto a fence to make the space appear larger, while downlighting can be used to pick out features such as a tree, or placed above a table to provide light for eating or relaxing.

Easy garden lighting idea: Create shadowing by placing a light in front of a sculptural plant or object to achieve a dramatic look.

If you're landscaping your garden, you should plan your lighting design early in your garden project, advises award-winning garden designer Charlotte Rowe, as all cabling usually needs to go in under the hard landscaping and planting.

And don't forget about borders – drawing attention to them can create a comprehensive scheme to your modern garden. You can create this effect by installing strips of waterproof LED rope lighting around the bottom edge of your border. This also makes a great statement for any patios, decking or terraced areas.

Finally, choose LED garden lights rather than halogen as they are highly energy efficient and the life of the lamp is much longer. We'd recommend going for warm white rather than cool white, as it gives a softer glow to your outdoor space.

Read on for more garden lighting ideas to help you illuminate your outdoor space in style.

Solar lights are a fantastic option for garden lighting as it can act as both functional and decorative. Not only are they far more energy efficient, saving you money in the long run, but they're also easy to install and can be left in place for a long time.

While solar powered garden lights don't require outdoor electricity, they do rely on a steady supply of strong sunlight, so you can't always depend on them. Some outdoor solar lights need up to eight hours daily to fully charge, so solar lights with battery back-ups or ones that are rechargeable vis USB, are great for duller winter months. If the weather turns wet and windy, it's a good idea to put solar lighting away until conditions improve, as the fragile wire cables can easily be broken.

Garden lighting ideas: Solar lights are available in pretty much every type of lighting design, including fairy lights, festoon lights, stake lights, lanterns, path lights and wall lights. Position them in the places where you'll be spending time on a summer's evening, and hang solar powered lights where you can see them from inside the house – these will come into their own when it's too cold to go outside.

Garden fairy lights and festoon lights, otherwise known as garden string lights, are key features in making your garden space more enticing. With outdoor fairy lights, the power source will either be battery, plug-in or solar. If you want to jazz up some plants, choose battery operated with a timer (ensure it's in a sheltered position) or solar-powered string lights. The flexible wire will mean you can style and shape them with ease. Plug-in is the best option if you're using extendable strings of lights where you can add on lengths to cover hundreds of metres for a magical effect.

Garden lighting ideas: Winter or summer, a garden full of twinkly lights is a magical sight. Garden fairy lights are very decorative and colourful, so you can use them to really enhance your garden. They perfectly illuminate any space, not giving off a stark and bright light, but a soft warm glow. For the most effective results, thread fairy lights through the planting, but you can also wrap string lights around trees or drape along fences. Another idea is to string festoon lights back and forth over a sitting area to create your own starry sky.

Practical and functional, outdoor wall lights will highlight the area around your house, garden or balcony, or even the shed. Garden wall lights are either solar or mains powered. Mains powered ensures light is guaranteed but solar can be a good alternative. PIR motion sensor lights are popular options – often used front of house, the sensor will welcome visitors and is good for security and for lighting pathways or gates.

Draw attention to texture on the ground with low level lighting. Combine uplights and downlights on features, and define pathways and borders with strip LEDs. Ground lights (especially flat, circular lights) are perfect for decking and can be easily dotted around decked areas, steps, paths and patios for instant appeal and ambience.

Garden stake lights or spike lights also make great ground lights – they're simple to install and are a great decorative feature, especially if nestled among flower beds or foliage. You may also want floor spotlights to highlight a path or to shine light on a certain corner, and pillar lantern lights, or lamp posts, are ideal for lighting up the whole garden.

Do bear in mind that some ground lights, especially recessed ground lights (within decking or paving), will require wiring and the cable connections must be watertight. If you are considering this for your garden ensure it is installed by a qualified and licensed electrician.

All cabled garden lighting must be installed by a certified qualified electrician. Make sure that cabling is well protected from rodents, squirrels and foxes.

An electrician will usually advise taking the electrical supply for the lighting directly from the house and may also suggest installing a new outdoor socket. Outside sockets should be sited in a sheltered spot – they must have a weatherproof cover for protection and a suitable IP (ingress protection) rating.

Charlotte Rowe suggests finding good quality, compact, waterproof light fittings that are IP67 or 68 rated.

All outside sockets must be RCD (residual current device) protected for safety. An RCD works by switching off the flow of electricity when a cable or flex is cut. To create the electrical circuit, armoured cables are run around the garden with 'spurs' providing outlets for individual lights.

Underground cables must be buried in a trench deep enough to avoid damage from garden tools, pets and wildlife. You should always buy outdoor lighting equipment from a reputable retailer and make sure it's certified waterproof, especially if it's to be used for water features. Unless clearly labelled as waterproof, lights plugged into an outdoor outlet aren't designed to stay outside all year round so should be taken inside once summer’s over. And, importantly, always use a registered electrician, you can find one at NICEIC.

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