Should you buy an outdoor sink for the garden?

Along with the rustic rendered pizza oven, the Kamado Egg and a Swisscave wine cooler, running water is an obvious addition to any alfresco cooking set-up. But you don't have to commit to a full-scale outdoor kitchen to embrace one of this year's most charming (and useful) garden trends: the outdoor sink.

Whether it's made of gorgeously aged copper, weathered stone or an elegant marble bowl sourced from a reclamation yard (or try Etsy and expect to pay from about £100 for a vintage piece) or a sharp, contemporary stainless-steel box, an outdoor sink can be both water feature and useful addition to any outdoor space — even a balcony or patio.

"We’ve seen a burgeoning societal change in how we use our gardens, and