Gardens of Style Review-October 2025
It was last winter that we found our fabric covered 6mx3m gazebo covered in snow one morning.
Later in the day it started to rain and just as I was passing there was a loud bang and the whole structure collapsed in a heap. The snow plus the rain was very heavy, far too heavy for a gazebo!
What to do? We considered replacing like with like and decided that unless you take the gazebo down before the winter and erect it each Spring it was not built to carry much weight on the roof. Decision made. A replacement gazebo is not for us.
We hunted for an answer bearing in mind that we needed a strong structure.
In a local garden centre, we spotted a pergola and that helped us to decide. Looking around online, very critically, we found Emma at Gardens of Style and after speaking to her decided to buy one big enough to have a dining table for eight and a sitting area, again for eight.
So, 7.2m x 3.6m turned out to be the size needed and Nova seemed to be a good Norwegian company with a great design. No rainwater down pipes, the louvered roof drains into gutters that vent down the legs of the structure – what a great idea!
Our yard is slightly sloping, and we needed a level base, so we opted for a composite deck big enough to take the pergola.
That decision was JUST the right one for us. We now use it twice a day for morning coffee and light lunch and of course our frequent eight-person barbecues.
The pergola has changed our lives by adding another room (outside) and we enjoy watching the numerous birds on our feeder and when the pheasants visit, almost daily, we can be on hand to give them their own feed.
We are surrounded by fields full of sheep and lucky to have had pheasants visit all year round. There was a group of eleven in the Spring and when Summer came along one of the hen pheasants brought her brood of six to visit.
We are well pleased to have done business with Emma at Gardens of Style, to have chosen the larger pergola that suits our needs, and one designed and manufactured by Nova. It is a sound structure. We have bought
screens for every side. The whole structure stands up well in heavy winds. The easily handled screens are of a clever design and slot into floor catches when closed. They stand up well in heavy winds. The louvered roof is watertight.
There is a warning about the screens in heavy weather, but this has proven unnecessary in the chosen position on our yard . The screens are nearly rain proof and only admit a fine spray in horizontal rain and wind in the ‘right’ direction.
We have installed electricity and as well as fitting the complimentary radiant heater that comes with the pergola, we have installed an external socket for the barbecue heated tray, two internal sockets for music, a fan in hot weather and an LED strip light high on the rear central pillar.
The cost of the whole project was not cheap but in life you get what you pay for, and we have no regrets. We can recommend Emma without reservation and the Nova pergola for its design and the change it has brought to our life style and presented to us by our summer project.