Outdoor Fireplaces & Garden Fireplaces UK

An outdoor fireplace is a freestanding garden fire feature with a chimney or flue that lifts smoke above head height, so it clears the people sitting around it instead of drifting through them. A chiminea works on the same principle in a smaller, self-contained body with a bulbous belly and a narrow stack. Fireside Boutique stocks 14 of them from Adezz, BonFeu and Weather-it, in corten and coated steel, from £220 to £2,095. Free UK mainland delivery.

Read the full outdoor fireplace and chiminea buying guide

Fireplace, chiminea or fire pit?

An outdoor fireplace has an open front, a flue, and usually a solid back that shelters the fire from wind and pushes heat forward. A chiminea does the same in a compact body, which suits a courtyard or a first fire feature. A fire pit is open on all sides and radiates in every direction, which suits seating arranged in a circle rather than a row.

One direction or all round?

Most of this range is single-sided. The exception is the Adezz Digna, a 360 degree panoramic model open on every side, which behaves more like a fire pit with a flue: it throws heat all round and works with seating on more than one side. Its flue pipe and rain cap are optional extras rather than part of the standard build, so add them if smoke management is the reason you are buying.

Do you need a tall flue?

A tall stack lifts smoke well clear, which matters most when the fireplace sits close to seating, a wall or a boundary. Lower-stacked models are less visually dominant, but you will notice the smoke more when the wind drops. If it is going against a house wall or near a neighbour's fence, choose the taller flue.

Materials and weathering

Corten steel weathers to a stable rust-coloured patina that protects the steel beneath, and will stain the paving under it while that patina forms. Coated steel keeps its finish and colour but needs the coating kept intact, and a chip left untreated will corrode.

Siting and safety

Keep at least a metre of clear space in front of the opening and around the sides, and site the fireplace away from overhanging branches and anything that can catch a spark. A flued outdoor fireplace still needs open air above it, so do not place one under a pergola roof, a sail shade or a covered veranda.

Honest trade-offs

A single-sided outdoor fireplace warms the people in front of it well and everyone else barely at all, so it works when seating is arranged on one side and works poorly when it is not. It is also heavier and harder to move than a fire pit or a chiminea. If you rearrange your garden often, that weight is a real drawback.