Solar Garden Lantern in Cut Stainless Steel

Solar lanterns fail in the same place every time: a panel parked under a tree, in a spot that catches two hours of morning sun and nothing after. Hang this one where the light actually lands and the pierced shell does the rest, throwing its pattern onto the wall or the path instead of just glowing to itself.

It is a stainless steel lantern with a cut out shell, charged by a built in solar panel, switching itself on at dusk. A decorative butterfly bracket comes with it for wall mounting, and there is a handle on top for hanging.

• Stainless steel, made to sit outside through the weather
• Solar charged, on at dusk, no wiring and no switch to remember
• Cut out shell that casts shadow patterns onto nearby surfaces
• Wall bracket included, plus a handle for a branch or a shepherd's hook

Good to know

Pattern is what this does, not brightness. Hang it close to a wall, a fence panel or a pergola post and the cut outs land somewhere you can see them. Out in the open with nothing behind it, the effect goes off into the night and you are left with a small glowing shape.

The panel needs sun, not daylight. A lantern under a porch roof charges badly all summer and then gives up in the first overcast week of autumn, so choose the spot for where the light falls at midday and settle the looks second.

Wipe the panel every few weeks through the summer. Pollen and dust cost more charge than anyone expects, and a lantern that used to run late and now quits early is usually just dirty.