Securing your Outdoor Room

With most of us spending more and more time in our outdoor room – and year round to boot, so the value of the items in our garden has risen making them increasingly attractive to the opportunist thief.  According to a report in the Guardian last  May, we now spend £4bn each year on making the land around our homes more beautiful, but insurer Churchhill Insurance claims that as many as one in seven households will be affected by garden crime, saying that the British lose nearly £300 m per year in garden thefts. If you want to minimise the risk of unwanted visitors gaining access to your outside space there are a number of factors you should consider:

• Natural defences - think about planting prickly or inhospitable plants and bushes around the garden. This is natural defence in its purest form! This way you can still achieve an attractive backdrop and make the thief's job more difficult (and uncomfortable) at the same time! Hawthorn or holly are two of the best plants to ward off thieves
• Fighting fit fences - ensure your fencing is fit for purpose and capable of withstanding any attempts to push it over, remove any panels or parts, kick it through or climb over. An ‘average’ garden fence is designed to provide attractive demarcation and can easily be compromised.  A total fence height of less than 1.8m is generally ineffective as it can easily be scaled and allow objects to be passed over it.  Where possible, and subject to planning permission, a fence should be 2-2.4m high.  Fitting a trellis on the top of a fence also makes it harder for thieves to gain access
• Grab some gravel!  A gravelled drive and path makes a great noise deterrent
• Weigh it down -  put bricks in any expensive garden pots outside the house to make them too heavy for anyone to walk off with
• Working undercover – prune trees and shrubs near sheds, greenhouses and garages to prevent thieves from working undetected
• Let there be light – keep the garden well lit and consider investing in security lighting to make it difficult for a thief to work unobserved