BBQ Summer - What a Washout!

The Met Office have recently done a bit of a U-Turn and have now seen fit to revise their 'Odds on for a BBQ Summer' statement they made in April. Other untruths from the Met reported by BBC News were that 'we are heading for a long period of BBQ weather this year' but on to July and all is not quite as reported what with the case of 100 children being evacuated from a water-logged Camp Site in the Lake District and general gloom on most seafront promenades up and down the country.

Ewan McCullum, chief meteorologist at the Met Office went public in April and said 'We are seeing a signal for a warmer than average summer which again means that we could have good hot spells and perhaps get the BBQ out', but in the last couple of days he has added 'The phrase we used was Odds on for a BBQ Summer, we were talking about a 65% chance, that meant there is a 35% chance that July would turn out the way it did, but as I say we still have August to come'. Never mind Ewan, I'm sure August will be lovely!

Summer Holiday's in the UK

We are now into the 6 week school summer holidays and more and more families elect to either stay at home or holiday somewhere in the UK. This may be something to do with a) the economy, b) the poor exchange rate, c) swine flu, but it's got to be good news for the UK in general.

We have noticed a massive increase in our sales of Garden Games which suggests that the beach in Spain is being swapped for the garden in England, our best sellers to date being the Mega High Tower and Seaside Soaker.

You can have a look at the complete range of fun items for the garden in our Garden Games Category.

Britain Is Too Hot For BBQs

Madness, if the weather isn’t a perpetual perfect temperature and balance of wet and dry and the thermometer dares to stray a couple of degrees above or below the accepted norms then we have heatwaves, ice ages, floods, droughts and a general breakdown in all public and some private services. 33 degrees C today, which I’ll admit is hot and ‘officials raise the threat level from amber to red, some measures including putting social services and hospitals on alert for a wave of casualties from the scorching weather…’ and we are all advised to stay in.

Thing is, whatever we Brits consider as extreme weather is just the norm for half the world, our hottest ever day of 38.1C (100.6F) in Gravesend, Kent in 2003 might be considered chilly in parts of Africa, America, Australia, Asia & some parts of Europe (go to Seville, then you’ll know what hot is). Likewise, or maybe not when you consider -27.2 degrees C is actually very cold and is the lowest ever temperature in Britain, but definitely likewise when the plummet below -1C has us hoarding food and petrol because of the inevitable supply chain problems that this ‘freak’ weather is bound to cause – it is a wonder how Scandinavians survive their winters.

Make the most of the (quite possibly short lived) fine weather, take some time out in the garden with friends or family - play some garden games or even put up a basketball net!

Xtreme Air Trampolines Selling Out!

About 4 years ago trampolines were the latest "craze" and in a 12 month period it is estimated that 65% of all households in the UK with a child between the age of 5 & 14 bought a circular garden trampoline. The 14' and 10' Xtreme Air trampolines were always there at the top end of the market and probably about the best quality trampoline available due to the extra thick padding, strong frame and long springs which gave them more bounce than the average trampoline.

The craze is now over and new trampoline sales are about 3% of what they used to be (because most people have them now) so we are discontinuing the Xtreme Air Trampolines. There are 30 x 10' models left and only one 14' model, all discounted heavily for a quick sale. Have a look here... and remember there are still plenty of the Xtreme Air Basketball Sets left.

Garden Games Update

Some of our regular visitors will have realised that our front page has changed. It's out with the SilverSteel Stainless Steel Gas BBQ and in with the Lattice Cast Iron Chimineas. The reason for this is simple, we have sold out of SilverSteel Stainless Steel Gas BBQ's and unfortunatley can't get any more in until early 2010, however the substitute in it's place isn't just a random offering. The Lattice Cast Iron Chimineas have been the websites number 1 best seller since going live back in March and just like the SilverSteel Stainless Steel Gas BBQ it's an extreamly well made, high quality item at the value for money prices that our customers expect.

May Offers

Recent news from the BBC suggests a hot and dry Summer at last!

To make the most of this good news, throughout May 2009 we have several promotions that will offer you substantial savings on selected outdoor products and free gifts to go with your purchase.

Offer 1 - Free Standard Delivery on all Cast Iron Pizza Ovens - these items weigh 115 kilos, free delivery on this product will save you £39.95 for most UK deliveries and significantly more if you live in any of those hard to reach areas that normally attract addittional postage.

Offer 2 - Free BBQ Grill Brush if you purchase any BBQ. Additionally if your BBQ costs £99.99 or more we will also throw in a free 3 Piece BBQ Tool Set. We will upgrade the tool set to the Stainless Steel version for all Silversteel barbecue purchases.

Offer 3 - Free Standard Delivery on selected Stainless Steel Water Features saving you up to £19.95 for most UK addresses. Models included in this promotion are the Angel, Backstone, Cautley, Colwith & Hardraw.

Offer 4 - Free Basketballs with any Xtreme Air Basketball Set - this will include both a Dunlop Mini & Dunlop Standard Basketball.

Offer 5 - 20% off all Chimineas excluding any clearance items. This includes the cost of the product AND the postage and will lead to a substantial saving.

For any further clarification on any of these promotions please call us on 01702 545466. To claim your discount at source you will have to telephone your order through. All web sales will be charged at the non-offer rate and the savings will be refunded back within 1 working day.

Stainless Steel Facts

Today we have for you a quick lesson on stainless steel types. There are many different grades of stainless steel for a wide variety of uses, the two grades commonly used for consumer goods are 430 Stainless Steel & 304 Stainless Steel.

Grade 304 is better quality, particularly for outdoor use as due to its nickel content (about 8%) it cannot rust. Our SilverSteel BBQ’s are made from 304 Stainless Steel.

Grade 430 contains iron and can rust. However, highly polished 430 Stainless Steel is still quite weather resistant and takes a long time to rust if the surface is left unscratched. It is much cheaper than Grade 304 as it doesn’t use any nickel. It is also magnetic due to the iron content. There is a miss-conception that Stainless Steel can’t be magnetic, Grade 430 is Stainless Steel and is magnetic.

Stainless Steel products available here include our SilverSteel BBQ and some of our range of Alan Titchmarsh Water Features.

Handy Hint: The best way to keep an outdoor Stainless Steel item nice and shiny is to occasionally clean it with either olive oil or baby oil. This gets rid of all marks and prevents water marking.

Hope you enjoyed our quick nugget of information.